Same Friends, Mixed Emotions
by forensicfreak14
Summary: Now in their Fifth year at Hogwarts, Cristina realizes that she and two of her closest guy friends have new feelings for each other. Edit in progress .
1. Boarding for Home

            Even though I'm going into my Fifth year, I still can't get over the fact that I'm the only Hispanic student at the school. Being from Colombia, I still wonder how I ended up in Europe. I'm fairly popular, in and out of my own House, even though I am an overachiever. I'm also quite a popular Chaser on our Quidditch team. I do have an amazing group of very close friends, all in my house: Gryffindor. Some of us are on the Quidditch team, others support us. But anyway…

            "¡Hola! Stephen!" I called out.

            "Old what?" he questioned.

            "I said 'Hi' in Spanish, remember?" I replied.

            "Oh yeah, sorry. You going to board now?"

            "Sí, is everyone else on already?" I asked.

            "Yeah, they are," he said with a smile, "we've been waiting for you."

            Before I had started my Fourth year, my family moved to the U.S., more specifically the Southeast. But there was no Quidditch in Colombia, and there is most definitely none in the U.S. But there is soccer, which I grew up playing. I was then told I couldn't play anymore, so I became a referee. That's how Stephen and I became friends (I hadn't really noticed him before that because he is a year under me.)

            "Well, I better not keep them waiting," I said with a grin.

            As I boarded the train, I let my hair down because I can't stand leaving it up. By doing that, I received a couple dozen or so cat-calls from every guy that saw me, including Stephen. I just rolled my eyes and laughed.

            When the two of us finally reached the compartment our group uses, I got to see all of my closest friends after a long summer.

            "Hey C.M.!" a boy called from inside.

            Andrew. He can be such a pain in the ass, but he's a great friend.

            "You call me C.M. again and I'll tell everyone your middle name," I replied, giving him that 'Have-you-forgotten-what-I-know-and-no-one-else-does' look.

            As I looked around, I noticed how crowed we were in there. Oh well, it's good to have lots of friends. To make everything easier for ourselves, we were already in our school uniforms. I then took my seat between Andrew and Oliver.

            Oliver Wood. He's our loyal and sexy Quidditch Captain and Keeper, as well as my best friend since our First year. You will almost always see us together, just because we are such good friends.

            Stephen followed me in, taking his seat across from me, between Robin and Becca, yet more friends of mine.

            In the compartment across from ours, I could see more of our group; Laurin, Adriana, Nick, Kevin, Tommy, and Taylor. Harry and Hermione came and joined us while Ron went into the other compartment.

            Hermione and I were having the most interesting conversation about new spells we had learned over the summer when the train started to pull away. I suddenly felt very tired, most likely from my long trip and soon fell asleep.


	2. Arrival at the School

Chapter 2

            I guess we were all really exhausted, because when I woke up, everyone in our compartment and the one across from us were as asleep as you could be, and still be living.

            As I slowly lifted my head to get a better look around, I noticed something was holding me down. While I became more adjusted to the darkness outside and the bright lights on the train, I found that Oliver's arm was wrapped around my waist.

            _This is nice…very nice….I commented to myself. _When I fell asleep, I must have slipped onto Oliver's lap.__

            As comfortable as I was though, I knew I had to wake up my friends, seeing as how we were drawing nearer to Hogwarts.

            While I shifted onto my back, I removed Oliver's arm from my waist and gently shook him until he awoke.

            "Well, someone must have slept well," I said, flashing him a cocky grin.

            "Yes, in fact I slept very well," he replied, returning my grin.

            "Since you are up now, help me wake up everyone else."

            "Everyone else? You mean to tell me that everyone is sleeping too? How do we wake up so many people?" he asked me.

            "Primero," I answered, "Sí, everyone is sleeping and I find that to be rather unusual. Segundo, sleeping people absolutely despise bright lights, so a very simple but effective spell will be perfect."

            While saying this, I had pulled out my wand. Oliver had done the same.

            "Don't forget to shut your eyes, this will be very bright, remember? Ready?" I said.

            "_Lumos!" we shouted in unison, while pointing in opposite directions and keeping our eyes closed._

            While we did not have eyes open, I still knew what was happening:

            The spell, Lumos, can have a wide area of uses, depending on how you say it. By yelling it, a large, bright white flash appears; yet in a normal voice or whisper, the tip of your wand lights up and becomes a very useful light source.

            Anyway, enough spell information from me…

            As the light filled the area, we heard the many groans of our fellow classmates as they were awakened, rather rudely I might add, by us.

            "Sorry, but we're almost there. We should be stopping within the next minute or two," I said as remorsefully as I could.

            Strangely enough, the train started to slow as I said this.

            _Am I good or what? I said to myself, grinning._

            In no time at all, we were filing off the train and into the carriages that would be taking us to our school.

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            Upon arriving at the entrance to our wonderful home-away-from-home, we saw the tiny boats gliding across the dark lake, the lanterns in each one looking like giant glowing fireflies.

            "Look at all those boats! There's so many First years now that we might be thrown out!" Nick said.

            Nick. Another really good friend of mine. He has a really strange sense of humor, he really does. We still laugh anyway. I love his humor though.

            Soon enough, we were seated at our table in the Great Hall, watched the who-knows-how-many First years get sorted, then were finally able to eat and talk some more.

            After dinner, we raced each other back to our common room, ready to go to sleep; again.

            I still wonder why we all fell asleep on the train, but right now, it really doesn't matter.


	3. I know, I'm late

Chapter 3

            "Cristina! You forgot your bag!" Becca yelled down to me.

            "I'll get it later! Right now I'm about to miss breakfast! And I need to have a lot of energy to get through Potions class!" I yelled back to her, running out of the common room at that point.

            Running all the way down to the Great Hall, I didn't have time to notice the two people around the last corner.

            So, being me, I ran into them.

            "Watch it! Not everyone around here is in a hurry you…oh, Cristina. Sorry, didn't know it was you," Ron said, being very annoyed.

            "Let's see; you woke up late, left your bag in our dorm room, and ran all the way down here so you could grab some breakfast before class. Am I right? You know I am," Alli said, also rather pissed at me.

            Alli. One of my best friends here who isn't a guy. She enjoys changing my last name constantly.

            "Sí, y lo siento mucho; but I really do need to go now," I replied, apologizing as I left.

            As I turned, before I went into the Great Hall, I saw Alli and Ron leave, hand in hand. How I so wish I were like them.

            Ok, enough daydreaming…it's breakfast time!

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            _Well, I feel more energetic now! I thought to myself as I left the Great Hall. _Now I just need my bag.__

            I didn't have time to run and get it, but I knew another way.

            "_Accio Cristina's school bag!" I shouted._

Seconds later, my bag came flying down to me, followed by Oliver, Andrew, and Nick.

            That's funny. I swear I called for my bag, and not for guys. Oh well, me gusta los muchachos también. I said to myself, not resisting the smile I gave them.

            "Just because I was a little late this morning does not mean that the three of you must be late and cause us to lose House points," I said to them.

            "Don't worry so much Cristina. We've still got another 5 minutes to get down there. I just wanted to make sure you got there on time," Oliver said, giving me his 'I'm-not-kidding' looks.

            "Yeah, that's why we're here too," Andrew said, indicating Nick and himself.

            "Well, just so I don't disappoint the three of you, I'll head down to class with you now. Let's just hope we don't lose any points anyway," I said, reaching down to pick up my bag which I had dropped.

            But Andrew took my bag instead.

            "Allow me. I'll carry it for you," he said.

            "By all means, please do."

            "So, Oliver. When's our first practice going to be, or have you not decided yet," I asked.

            "You actually think that Oliver hasn't planned our first practice yet? You've got to be kidding your self," Nick said.

            "To answer the question, our first practice will be next Monday. And I've already got the field for the team, unless Slytherin gets Snape to write another note," Oliver said, getting one of those wilds looks that he does when talking about Quidditch.

            "Let's not think about that. We can discuss the details later. But right now, we gotta get to class."


	4. Classes and More Classes

Chapter 4

            As the four of us walked into our Potions class, I walked over to Robin and Bethany and sat between them.

            "¡Hola! ¿Que pasa?" I asked them.

            But before they could answer me, Snape walked into the Dungeon.

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            "Well, that class could've been worse." I said, as soon as Andrew, Oliver, Nick, Bethany, Robin, and I were in the safety of a hallway away from the Dungeons.

            Robin and Bethany. Both of them are fellow Chasers on our wonderful Quidditch team. Being two more of my best friends, they, like Rebecca, always tell me, 'You will find the right guy. Maybe not now, but you will someday.'

            As I finished placing my rolls of parchment into my bag, Robin said, "I don't get it. Our first day back of classes and we already have a twenty foot parchment due at the end of the week for Potions."

            "Why can't you believe it?" Bethany asked. "After all, this is Snape we're talking about here."

            "We can look on the bright side though," Nick said, "seeing as how, for once, we didn't lose any House points."

            "_He's got a good point there," I thought to myself._

            "So. Who's got what class now?" Andrew asked us all. "I've got a free class, so I'll try to find an empty room behind a portrait. I'll spend class time in there and meet the rest of you at lunch. Oh yeah, here's your bag Cristina. I believe that you'll need it."

            With that, Andrew gave me my bag and left in search of an empty room. And only I knew why:

            Andrew's the most talented singer that I know. When he gets the chance, he goes off somewhere secretive and sings. When he's doing that, everyone just thinks that's he's studying, because he does get good grades here. But that's not true, about the studying I mean. I know this because, two months into our First year, I was coming back from the Library when I heard a very small noise, almost impossible to hear, coming from behind a portrait of an old witch who was never awake. So I slowly and quietly opened the picture, climbed in, and gently closed it behind me. Inside the small room was Andrew, enjoying himself thoroughly by singing. The song was in Spanish, so I joined him. But I had scared him by doing so, and that made him stop. Andrew made me swear never to tell anyone about what he did. I said that I wouldn't because I sometimes did the same.

            As soon as he left, the rest of us pulled out our schedules and compared them:

            "Robin and I both have Arithmancy, so we gotta run. See you at lunch," Bethany said, as she and Robin took off for their class.

            "Cristina and I both have Herbology next," said Oliver, taking my bag from me. "Allow me."

            "_Do I not get to carry my own bag anymore?" I asked myself. "_Oh well, since they enjoy doing this for some reason, fine with me."__

            "Carry on then," I told Oliver. "By the way Nick, what do you have next?"

            "I have Care of Magical Creatures with the Sixth years. I'll catch both of you at lunch."

            And with that, Nick left. Even though we were going the same way, he tends to run when he gets to go outside.

            The reason Nick is taking Care of Magical Creatures with the Sixth years is because he's an overachiever, like me. But when offered to take more challenging classes, I declined. I wanted to be as normal as I could be which is very hard to do, for me at least. Nick and Rebecca both accepted; Nick just wanting the challenge, Rebecca wanting to be with her Sixth year boyfriend, Brian.

            As Oliver and I reached the front doors, someone ran up behind me and jumped onto my back.

            "Cristina! Long time no see!" a very tall, blonde haired girl said to me, smiling.

            "Rebecca! I've missed you all summer!" I said, very excitedly.

            "Me too! So where are you headed for right now?" Rebecca asked me.

            "Oliver and I are headed for Herbology, and Nick took off for Care of Magical Creatures," I replied.

            "That's where we're headed," Brian said, putting an arm around Rebecca, his girlfriend for a year now.

            Rebecca's our Gryffindor Prefect, and she's the Head Girl. She's a tall 5'8" over my 5'3½", but Brian is a full 6'3". I hate that feeling, but I'm used to it. Rebecca's been my closest friend, next to Andrew and Oliver, since our First year here. I've know Brian since last year. They are so perfect together.

            Sorry. Anyway, back to where I was….

            The four of us walked out onto the grounds together; Oliver and me turning for the Greenhouse, and Rebecca and Brian still walking, hand in hand, for Hagrid's hut.

            As soon as we entered the Greenhouse, I went to the seat next to Ashlyn, another fellow Gryffindor. She was sitting next to her boyfriend, George. So I couldn't help what I said to them:

            "Hey Ashlyn, George. When I walked in here, I thought something was on fire. Then I realized that I was just seeing your two read heads next to each other."

            Ashlyn is pretty damn tall too. She's 5'10". And George is no exception. He and Fred are both 6'5". I swear that tall people are out to get me.

            The four of us just kept laughing until Professor Sprout walked in.

            "Today class, you will be learning how to make an anti-venom to be used after being bitten by a Venomous Tentacula."

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            "At least I know what to do now," I said to Oliver, Ashlyn, and George, reminding them of the scar on my right arm.

            I discovered a little too late last year that we had Venomous Tentaculas growing in our new backyard. My sister had kicked my soccer ball down the hill; so, since it was mine, I had to get it. When I stopped to pick it up, the damn plant bit my arm. I was in the hospital for two weeks after that.

            The four of us then headed for the Great Hall, to eat lunch and find out who had what classes for the rest of the day.

            When we reached the entrance, we found Rebecca and Brian waiting for us.

            "Let's go eat!" Rebecca said.

************************************************************************

            Before taking off again, Oliver and Andrew noticed that the three of us always had the same classes together, except for Andrew's free class.

            The three of us caught up with Alicia, Deanna, and Chris, Rebecca's other siblings (A.N. Yes, there are really four of them!). Then we headed off for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

            "What do you think this year's professor will be like?" Alicia asked me.

            "Yo no sé. I hope that whoever it is lasts longer than the others," I replied.

            Reaching the classroom, I sat with Alicia and Deanna. Hermione came and joined us later.

            Oliver, Andrew, and Chris sat together too. Harry also joined them shortly after.

            Then we got to meet our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

            "Hello class. I am your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Travis. I have heard about how something always seems to happen to your last few teachers, but I don't intend to let that stop me from teaching you. Now, let's start by getting to know each other."

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            "Wow! If our next professor wasn't caliente, then I just don't know what to say!" I said so only Alicia, Deanna, and Hermione could hear.

            "Are any of you off to Arithmancy? I am, and I want to get there nice and early," Hermione said.

            "No, I'm off to Transfiguration. And Oliver and Andrew also have that with me," I replied.

            Hearing their names mentioned, Andrew and Oliver came over to me.

            "Shall we go then Cristina?" Andrew asked me.

            "Sí, vamos ahora," I said, getting the occasional stare from those that passed by and heard me speak in a dialect other than theirs.

            Leaving Alicia, Deanna, and Chris to go to whatever class they had and leaving Hermione to her Arithmancy, the three of us left for Transfiguration.

************************************************************************

            Not far from our class, we ran into Kevin and Ken, who are, surprise surprise, even more friends of mine.

            "Are the two of you going to Transfiguration too? We are," I told them.

            "Yeah, we are. We just came from Herbology. It was quite interesting today," Kevin told us.

            When we finally reached the classroom, I noticed something very surprising: I was in an all-boys Transfiguration class.

            _"What the hell is going on here?" I asked myself as I walked in with Kevin, Andrew, Oliver, and Ken._

            "Cristina? Will you come over here for a moment please?" Professor McGonagall asked me.

             I had no choice really. I mean, what was I going to do? I was in an all-boys class and had no idea why and what had happened to cause this. Not that, you know, this was a problem or anything, because it wasn't. I just didn't know what to do.

            "Cristina. There was a problem in the scheduling. There were more Fifth years than expected, mostly boys. The rest of my Transfiguration classes are filled to the point where there are no empty seats, and this was the only one left. So, of course, being the wonderful student that you are, I had you put in this class. I know that you can handle this. If not, please tell me and I will try to find you a class suitable for you."

            "Is she serious? Put me, a girl who is still as single as can be, into an all-boys class? Am I dreaming or is this for real? I may never leave this class now!" I said to myself.

            "Thank you, Professor. I am willing to take the challenge of being in an all-boys class just to learn. And I will definitely let you know if I have any problems in here, which I don't believe that I will."

            "Well, now that you are taken care of, please take your seat and we will begin."

            _"Take my seat?! In between which boys?! I HAVE SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!!!!!" I wondered to myself, before going to the only empty seat, which was between Andrew and Oliver, and in front of Kevin and Ken._

            "Thanks guys, for saving me a seat," I told them, smiling.

            "It's the least we could do for you, since this will be your Transfiguration class for the year, right?" Ken said to me.

************************************************************************

            The rest of class was uneventful, except for the fact that I constantly had guys staring at me from every angle of the room. But I really did enjoy that, what single girl wouldn't?

            When class ended, the five of us headed down for dinner, taking our time. For once this day, we weren't concerned about being late for anything.

            When we finally reached the Great Hall, we met up with everyone else and chatted while eating.

            "So, Stephen, how was your first day back of classes," I asked my Fourth year friend next to me.

            "Not bad really. I don't know if you noticed or not, but I'm actually in your Transfiguration class. I don't know why I was put in a Fifth year class, but at least you're in there to help me when I need help, along with all of the other guys in there."

            "Oh yeah, sure I'll help you Stephen. Just ask me when, and I will. So you think it's funny about the fact that I'm in an all-boys Transfiguration class? I do."

             With that said, almost our entire table started laughing at my little remark.

            "What? I think it's funny."

            After dinner, Oliver called a small Quidditch meeting in our Common Room. Robin, Bethany, myself, Fred, George, Harry, and Oliver, of course, were the only ones there.

            "As Cristina brought to my attention earlier, we should get to work as soon as possible. So, with that, our first practice of the season will be held this Saturday morning, let's say starting at exactly 10:00 a.m., whether you have had breakfast or not; be there," Oliver told our team, his wonderful smile glowing at me.

            "Was he just smiling at me? He's never really smiled at me like that before. Oh well, I hope that he doesn't stop now." I said to myself, just melting under his radiant gaze.

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            The rest of the week went by, fairly quickly I might add, since I always looked forward to Quidditch; it was my life practically.

            Friday afternoon came and went, making the evening spring upon us all. While other fellow Gryffindors got ready to sleep in the next day, I was to be found in my dorm room, getting all of my Quidditch armor together, as well as my uniform and Firebolt.

            After polishing my Firebolt again, I set it on top of my armor and uniform, then crawled into my nice, warm bed for the night. After all, I would be getting up early for our first practice.

            With that done, I quickly fell asleep.


	5. Quidditch Practise

Chapter 5

            *Cristina still sleeping; dreaming*

            "Come on Andrew, join me. You too Oliver, I can't wait forever," I said, removing my shirt in front of them.

            *Dreaming done*

            "Where the hell did that dream come from?!" I asked myself, bolting straight up in bed.

            I looked at my bed-side clock: 9:30 a.m.

            "Great. I'm confused, but at least I'm up early enough to get ready and eat. I'll put my armor on in the locker room later," I said to myself.

            I got dressed, putting on my tight, black bike shorts and tight, white tank-top. I always wear both when playing sports. I then slipped on some warm-ups, grabbed my wand, and left for a quick breakfast.

            Reaching the Great Hall, I joined my fellow teammates and a few of my friends who were going to watch us practice, just for the hell of it.

             After eating a quick breakfast, I headed down for our team's locker room to finish getting ready for practice.

            "I did it again," I said to Bethany.

            "Did what?" she asked.

            "I left all of my Quidditch supplies in our dorm room. _Accio Cristina's Quidditch supplies_." With that said, my Firebolt, uniform, and armor came straight to me.

            "If anyone asks for me, tell them that I'm in the locker room finishing up. I should be done soon," I told her, since she had already finished and was walking out the door.

            "Yeah, sure. Just don't take too long. You know our Captain hates waiting for us," she replied, leaving me in the locker room alone.

            I started putting on my Quidditch armor, having to put on my leg armor first, since that would be the easiest to do. With that on, I put my arm / hand armor on, which was a little more difficult to do. But I did manage to get it on. Then I had to get on my back and chest armor, which involves slipping it over my head and then fastening it on the sides, which is damn near impossible to do. It truly is a two person job.

            Luckily Robin walked in at that exact moment.

            "Robin, ¿puedes ayudarme por favor?" I asked her.

            "What? I didn't understand that. Oh, yeah, I'll help you," she replied, seeing my slight problem.

            "Gracias," I said, putting on my uniform after I was into all of my armor. "What were you coming in here for anyway?"

            "Well, it's almost 10 and Oliver wanted ALL of us out there, including you. So he sent me in here to bring you out."

            "I won't disappoint the team then, because I'm done," I said, putting my wand into my Quidditch robes and grabbing my broom. "Let's join them."

            And with that, we were soon standing with the rest of our team, staring up at something in the sky.

            I went up to Oliver: "What's everyone looking at? I'm here now, so we can get started."

            Oliver looked down at me. "We have a problem to solve first: somehow the Slytherin team found out about our practise, so now they have taken over our pitch."

            As if my presence stopped the world from turning, the Slytherin team flew down to greet us.

            "Ah, I see that the lovely Cristina has come out to play now, has she?" asked the foul Captain of their team, Marcus Flint.

            "I came to play Quidditch, not to lose my breakfast by seeing what you call a face," I shot back, causing my team to laugh.

            "We had the pitch booked for our team today Flint," Oliver said, the fire in his eyes growing. "So you can just get the bloody hell off of my pitch."

            "Or else what? Is your crappy team going to makes us?" he replied, laughing.

            "In that case, maybe I'll give you a lesson. I call it 'How to make a guy sing.'," I said, handing Robin my broom.

            "I'll do that, right here, right now," he replied, too stupid to know my warning. 

            "Sure," I said, as I turned around, my back to that foul creature. Then I let myself go. "Learn this lesson well, and I might not use it ever again."

            Normally, I'm a well-natured person. I never lose my temper. Ever. There is no way possible to make that happen.

            Before he could realize what I was doing, I let my right arm and leg do all the talking.

            "Stomach, Instep, Nose, Groin. That's how I make a guy sing!" I said, making him double over in pain. But before I let him drop to the ground, I grabbed his shirt collar, pulled back my right fist, and let it slam his face, causing me to drop him because of the force I used. "GO TO HELL FLINT!!!!" I screamed at him. (A.N. If you care to know more about S.I.N.G., please do watch Miss Congeniality. It was quite helpful for writing this part.)

            Ok, so maybe I was a little angry. But truthfully, I am the most aggressive player on our team, and the last thing you want to do is piss me off.

            I just stood there, fists balled up at my sides, anger uncontrolled, and ready to take on whoever wanted a piece of me next.

            But it seemed that I had made my point. The rest of the Slytherin team picked up their Captain, who was at the time out cold and bleeding very badly from his nose, and carried him away.

            "Mission accomplished," I said to my team, smiling now while they cheered for me.

            Our friends that had come to watch us also came over to celebrate. That's when they noticed what had happened.

            "Cristina, your fist is bleeding!" Oliver said, pointing at my right fist.

            "It's no big deal Oliver. That's what I get for punching the shit out of someone with a very bony face," I replied, not showing him the pain I was feeling from my hand.

            "You can't play like this; here," he said, tearing off part of his Quidditch robe and tying it around my bleeding hand. "After practise, I expect that you'll go and have it cleaned up, right?"

            "Yes mighty Captain, I will go and have it taken care of. Can we practise now?"

            With that said, we were up into the air, darting around each other, working on our positions. It took me a few minutes to get used to holding my broom with a bandaged hand. 

            That was so kind of Oliver to do that for me, even though he'd never done that before. Maybe this time it was a little more important. I'm not quite sure.

            "Now that we've gotten warmed up, let's throw the balls in and see how everything goes with them in here," Oliver yelled to us.

            As he said that to us, Fred and George brought out the large crate containing the Quaffle, two Bludgers, and Golden Snitch. Then they opened the box and let them fly, except the Quaffle, which they tossed to me.

            "I may not be able to use my right hand very well right now, but see if you can stop this anyway Oliver!" I yelled, aiming straight for the goalpost that he was guarding, laughing.

            "Try your worst Cristina!" he replied, getting ready for my shot.

            As I was about to shoot, I heard Harry yell from far above me, "Watch out Cristina! There's a Bludger headed your way! Move!"

            I didn't bother to look from which direction it was coming from because I moved my broom straight up and toward the opposite end of the pitch.

            "Thanks Harry. I needed that warning," I replied, after making sure that one of the twins got a handle on it.

            But I didn't have very long to be grateful; I saw it coming back at me, as well as the other one.

            _"Well, I'm in some deep shit now, aren't I?" I asked myself._

            I couldn't pull out my wand, seeing as how I needed my left hand to control the broom, since my right hand was basically worthless at the time. So I did the only thing that I could do:

            "Help me out here! I can't shake these things! What good are you Beaters if you can't help me! " I yelled, racing toward the twins, hoping that they could take care of my problem.

            But they couldn't. They swung their clubs at the Bludgers, hit them, but the Bludgers kept following me!

            _"I've got myself some rogue Bludgers right now. I can't take out my wand. My only chance is for someone else to stop them before I get nailed by one, or both," I said to myself, taking a hard curve above the goals that Oliver was at._

            I must have polished my broom a little too well, because I lost my grip on that turn and fell off my broom. You never want to look down when you know there's a very solid surface below you. But I never hit the ground.

            "Need a lift Cristina?"  Oliver asked, turning around to see me. He'd caught me on his own broom.

            "Sí, y gracias Oliver. I wasn't wishing to hit the ground this morning," I replied. "There's just one problem now."

            "What problem is that?" he asked me.

            "In case you aren't already aware of this, I have two Bludgers after me. And now you do, since I'm on your broom," I said, looking around for the two black bullets.

            "Shit! I forgot about that. Guess we'll just have to outmaneuver them until someone can contain them, so just hold on to me," he replied, missing one of them as we spoke.

            I had no choice but to hold on. I wrapped my arms around his waist and just held on for my life, because we were pretty high up. We did have to protect the others, so we just went above them.

            I was looking around for the Bludgers when I saw something below me move. I know that the rest of our team was still trying to practise, but our team doesn't wear _green._

            "Oliver, I do believe that the Slytherin team is trying to get even with me by tampering with these Bludgers. I just saw one of their team members slinking away from the pitch."

            "Damn! I see them. We'll take care of that as soon as we take care of this problem," he replied, taking a hard right to avoid a Bludger.

            I looked down again. Andrew had come to watch us. He also must have seen what I saw because he got up and took off, wand in hand.

            "Good. Andrew will get the bastard who did this," I thought to myself, smiling.

            But I didn't have long to think about that.

            CRACK! Another Bludger had entered the pitch and hit the front of Oliver's broom. We went into a dive, a very long one. I held on to him even tighter and placed my head against his back, fearing that I would fall off if I didn't. He tried to pull up from the dive, but he couldn't. So we hit the ground, hard.

            I flew off of his broom and rolled against the goalpost closest to me. I couldn't move, I felt like I'd just had every bone in my body broken. Oliver was next to me, shaken up from the fall we had just taken. That's when I saw the three Bludgers where we had been seconds before. Oliver saw them too. He crawled over to me.

            "Cristina," he said to me, ignoring the pain that he himself was feeling, "have you ever been hit by three Bludgers at once?"

            "I have never been hit by three at once. And I don't care to, but it seems that I may not have a choice," I replied, forcing my head up to look at him.

            "I won't let that happen," he said, putting himself on top of me so I wouldn't be hit, "I don't know what's going to happen, but I just want you to know…………..I love you Cristina."

            I looked at him one last time before the Bludgers struck.


	6. What Happened to Who?

Chapter 6

            "Where am I?" I wondered to myself.

            "Cristina? Can you hear me?" someone asked; a boy.

            I slowly opened my eyes. It took me a minute to get adjusted to the light. I tried to look around, but I couldn't; a sharp pain shot through me.

            "I wouldn't try moving yet if I were you," another boy said, "you had a nasty fall."

            I managed to turn my head to my right to see who was talking to me; Taylor and Stephen were here.

            I tried to sit up, but had to have the two of them help me. Finally I was sitting up in a bed, but not in my dorm room; I was in the Hospital Wing.

            "What happened to me?" I asked, seeing the bandage on my right hand and feeling another wrapped around my head.

            Taylor answered me: "Well, it's a fairly interesting story. You had Quidditch practise, the Slytherin team wouldn't leave the field, you beat the shit out of their Captain, and then our team finally got the pitch. The next thing anyone knows, you were being chased by Bludgers."

            "I remember all of that. I fell from my broom, landed on Oliver's, and then we crashed to the ground. I couldn't move; I was in so much pain. I saw Oliver crawl over to me as we watched the three Bludgers shoot toward us. Then he said that he wouldn't let them hurt me; then he got on top of me to shield me from the attack, and then he said……. he loves me," I said, trying to think about what happened after that. "That's all I can remember."

            "It's no surprise that you can only remember that much," Stephen said. "The Bludgers went at the two of you at that moment. They were relentless in their attacking. We all rushed from the stands to try and help, but they had suddenly stopped, frozen right above you, as though they were stuck in the air. When we reached you, Oliver was on top of you; he had protected you from the attack, except for one which seemed to have hit your head pretty hard. He pretty much saved your life."

            I didn't know what to say. How could I; one of my best friends had just put his life at risk to save mine. That's when it occurred to me:

            "Where's Oliver?!" I exclaimed, looking frantically for him in the room.

            Then I saw him, in the bed next to mine. I got up and went over to his bed, despite my pain. He looked so terrible; bruised, broken, and alone.

            I couldn't help what I did next: I dropped to me knees, threw my head and arms over him, and cried. I just cried like I hadn't before.

            Someone put their hand on my right shoulder. I turned and saw through blurry eyes that Rebecca and Brian had come to see us. But I turned back to Oliver and cried even more.

            That's how I discovered my next heartbreaker: in the other bed next to Oliver was Andrew, looking almost as bad as Oliver did.

            I got up and went over to Andrew, where I just stood in disbelief, before dropping to my knees again.

            That's when Rebecca and Stephen came over and helped me back onto my feet. Once I was on my feet, I sat down at the end of Andrew's bed. I kept looking back and forth between him and Oliver.

            "Why?" I asked. "Why is Andrew here too?"

            No one answered for a few minutes.

            Then Rebecca spoke up: "After Oliver caught you on his broom, Andrew got up and took off somewhere, running with his wand in his hand. No one bothered to follow him. I was really too busy trying to think of a safe way to stop the Bludgers. A minute later, he came running back saying 'If you look behind the stands over there, you'll find some Petrified Slytherin team members. They tampered the Bludgers.' Then we saw the two of you crash. Before too long, Bludgers were attacking you, but Oliver was protecting you from them. The next thing we know, Andrew was running over to both of you, still holding his wand. He stepped into the line of fire; that's how he got so beaten up. Then, no longer standing, he pointed his wand into the air and said 'Immobulus' right before a Bludger slammed him into the goalpost that you were against. But they stopped, right before hitting the three of you again."

            My friend Krista was also in the room, she picked up from where Rebecca left off: "As soon as we saw the Bludgers freeze, we ran over to the three of you. We didn't find a pretty site. Andrew was slumped against the same goalpost you were against, battered and bruised. Oliver was on top of you, also bruised, but much worse. When we got you out from under him, you were almost perfect, except for your hand and the large bruise your head got. That's why you've been out for the past two days."

            I just lost it again. But this time, no one bothered to try and stop me from crying.

            I kept looking at the two of them, battered because they wanted to protect me from harm. They had never done anything like this before. Now they decide to, and look where they are now.

            "Let's go. I think she needs some time alone," I heard someone say. I didn't bother to see who it was.

            I heard my friends leave, not knowing what else they could do for me. Though I had just woken up, I laid down at the foot of Andrew's bed and cried myself to sleep.

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            Bright lights. I hate bright lights. I especially hate bright lights when I'm trying to sleep. I also hate it when my pillow moves.

            Wait, pillows don't move.

            I opened my eyes and sat up. I looked around. Oh yeah, I was still in the Hospital Wing. But I was lying on the end of a different bed, not mine.

            I looked to see whose bed I was on. That's when I remembered: I had fallen asleep on the end of Andrew's bed. Someone had also put a blanket on me at some point.

            I got up off the bed to better see my surroundings. Still being very sore, I had to hold onto the bed to walk to the window between the two beds.

            It was very bright outside; I'd guess it was about noon.

            I walked over to Oliver, still out cold. I grabbed his hands and squeezed them in my own.

            Putting my head against our hands, I said to him, "Oliver, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm here. I really don't know how to thank you for protecting me like that. I mean, you put your life at risk for mine. And look at you now because of me. I'm not that worth it. All I wish for right now is for you to wake up. I can't stand seeing you so helpless here. Please, if you can hear me Oliver, please wake up soon."

            Saying that, I started to cry again. Letting go of his hands, I took off my whale's tail necklace, which I never take off, and slipped it around his neck. I was still crying when I heard something move behind me, so I stopped crying. I turned to see Andrew moving around in his bed. I got up and went over to his bedside.

            I got down to my knees and started stroking his head.

            "Andrew? Andrew, it's me; Cristina. Can you hear me?"

            He must have heard me, because he opened his eyes to look at me.

            "Cristina?! You're….you're…"

            Before he could finish what he was saying, and before I knew what he was doing, he had his arms around my neck and was actually crying!

            "I thought that something terrible happened to you! I'm so glad that you're safe!" he said, still crying all over me.

            "I'm glad that you're awake now Andrew. I too was worried about you," I said, thanking the stars he was alright.

            "By the way, nice headband you've got there Cristina," he said, still being sarcastic.

            "Even though you got beaten up by Bludgers, you're still your annoying self. And I'm grateful. Oh, and you also have a nice headband Andrew," I said, finally being able to smile.

            "Should we start a club for those with bandaged heads?" he asked.

            "Maybe," I said, climbing onto his bed and sitting next to him.

            "Andrew?" I said.

            "Yeah?"

            I then did something very unexpected; I kissed him, on the lips too. I don't know what came over me, I just……I just kissed him, right there. Then I pulled away and slapped him.

            "What the hell was that for Cristina?!" he asked me in shock and alarm.

            "The kiss was my way of thanking you for what you did," I said, making up the reply quickly, since even I didn't know the truth. "I slapped you because I never want you to do something that stupid again. Trying to save me and Oliver by……"

            That's when I remembered that Oliver was still in the bed next to us. I felt my eyes water. I put my head against Andrew's chest and started to cry again.

            Andrew put his arms around me. "Cristina, what's wrong. You can tell me."

            I looked up at him and said, "Andrew, you saved us, but……" I pointed over to Oliver's bed where he still lay asleep.

            He got the idea. "It's ok, Cristina; Oliver will be ok. It just takes some time. He'll be fine."

            "I hope you're right Andrew. I hope you're right," I said, falling asleep in Andrew's arms.

            I hope you're right……


	7. Back to the Classes

Chapter 7

            "Mmmm. These sheets feel so good," I mumbled to myself.

            "Cristina? Who are you talking to?" someone asked me.

            I woke up. I was sleeping on my stomach with the sheets actually covering me (A.N. that never really happens; the sheets always fall off.) And I was, surprise, still in the Hospital Wing.

            Wondering who had spoken to me, I turned over onto my back: Andrew was in the same bed as me.

            "Oh shit!" I thought to myself.

            Andrew must have seen my reaction in the dim light: "Don't worry Cristina. It's not what you think. You fell asleep, I pulled the covers over you, and then I fell asleep. No big deal."

            Not knowing what else to do, I sat up on the bed and grabbed Andrew's watch from the night stand. It was almost 6 o'clock Wednesday morning.

            We couldn't stay out of classes forever. Amazingly, my wand was still tucked inside my Quidditch robe, which I was still wearing for some reason. Can we say gross?

            But anyway.....I pulled out my wand. "Lumos," I whispered, watching the tip of my wand light up.

            I held my wand so that I could better see Andrew and he could better see me.

            "I don't know about you, but I'm going back to the Common Room so I can get ready for the day's classes. We can't escape from them forever," I said, getting off of the bed.

            "Well, since you're going back to classes, I guess I also have to. So let's leave now; it may take me a while," he said, slowly getting out of bed.

            I was sitting on Oliver's bed, looking down at him and stroking his head, where he still lies silent. I then heard a noise behind me; something hollow hit something hard and solid.

            I turned around and pointed my wand at Andrew, who I could hardly see in the early morning light. He was rubbing his forehead.

            "What was that Andrew?" I asked him.

            "I uh..... I hit my head," he said.

            "I could tell; that's what the hollow sound was. And so you banged your head against the wall because you were too stupid to take out your wand and say "Lumos." Right?"

            Andrew just nodded his head at me. I stood up, leaned over and kissed Oliver's forehead, and walked to the end of his bed. Andrew walked over to me.

            "He'll be ok Cristina. All we can do is wait."

            I looked up at Andrew. "Thanks."

            He then put his right arm around my neck and let his right hand hang over my right shoulder. I felt his hand slowly move down.

            "If your hand moves any lower, you'll be in the Hospital Wing for a week," I said, thus making his hand move up onto my shoulder. "That's better."

            He just gave me one of his grins.

            So, finally, after being in the Hospital Wing for 4 days, we went back to our Common Room to prepare for the up-coming school day. Thankfully, when we got into the room, no one was up yet. We walked up to our dorms rooms together; then I went right and he went left.

            Quietly, I opened the door to my dorm room, walked in, and silently closed the door back. I went over to my bed and saw that someone had retrieved my Firebolt and placed it on my bed. I smiled. I then gathered my uniform and went to take a shower.

            When I entered the bathroom, I locked the door behind me, even though no one else would be up for another hour. I arranged all of my clothes on a shelf next to the shower itself. Then I looked into the mirror.

            "Well, you could look worse, Cristina, you really could. A good, long shower should help a lot," I said to myself, seeing just how dirty I was.

************************************************************************

            "That felt so much better," I said to no one, as I got dressed in the bathroom.

            Then I wrapped my hair in my towel; it's the only way I can get it to dry. Then I went back over to the mirror.

            "Amazing what something as simple as a shower can do for you," I said to myself, though I did notice the few cuts and scrapes I had gotten, most likely from falling and skidding across the sand around the goals.

            "You look much better, dear," the mirror replied to what I had said.

            "Thanks," I mumbled as I walked out the door.

            And what an ambush I encountered when I walked out. I couldn't make out what any one person was saying. It was chaotic! I could hear a few distinct words though.

            ".........got your Firebolt for you......"

            ".........glad you're back..........never want that to happen again......."

            ".........missed very little in class the past 2 days........"

            I enjoyed the fact that they had all missed me, but I really did need to get myself ready.

            "If you all don't mind, I really do need to get ready for the day's classes. So could everyone just, you know, disperse?" I said, attempting to make my way over to my bed.

            And, thankfully, with that said, everyone in my dorm went about their own ways of getting ready, allowing me to breathe again.

            Reaching my trunk, I opened it and removed my supplies for my classes for the day: Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and then Divination.

            Stuffing everything into my bag, I placed it all on top of my bed. I then let my hair down out of the towel and placed my brush into my bag; I'd need to brush my hair later, it still needed to dry some more. After doing that, I picked up my bag and went down into the Common Room to escape the crowd of happy friends.

            I wasn't alone.

            Sliding down onto the couch in front of the fire, I joined Andrew who was also sitting there.

            "So. I'm guessing that you were ambushed by those who were happy to have you back, right?" I said, smirking.

            "Ah, they got you too? I'm not surprised though. And I won't be surprised if everyone in this House ambushes you together fairly soon," he said, looking around to see if anyone else was there with us.

            He was right. In a matter of minutes, everyone in our House would be coming through the Common Room to go to breakfast and then class. And I would be the center of attention.

            "Well in that case, you want to get a head start to breakfast with me?" I asked, getting up and reaching for my bag.

            "Yeah, that would be a really good idea, so let's go," he replied, also standing and getting his bag.

            And with that, we were out of our Common Room and on our way to the Great Hall. Thankfully, we made it there without anyone seeing us, since it was still a little earlier than when most students came.

            Then, what a surprise; the rest of the Gryffindor House came down, one giant mass of talking students. That's how I knew when to hide under the table.

            After everyone was seated without noticing me, Andrew stuck his head under the table and said, "You can come out now, I don't believe that you'll be mobbed at the time."

            So I came out to find the rest of our Quidditch team seated around us, with the exception of Andrew, Rebecca, and Brian.

            And then there was that empty space next to me where Oliver always sits.

            "So how long do the two of you have to be 'bandage heads'?" Rebecca asked me.

            "Oh, uh, until the bruise goes away, which may be a while," I replied.

            "I'd love to see you brush your hair now," Robin said to me, laughing as usual.

            "Speaking of that, I completely forgot I still need to brush my hair!" I said, pulling out my brush and doing my hair. "Oh shit, I forgot a hair tie. Oh well, I'll just leave it down today," I added, putting my brush away.

            Looking at my watch, I realized that it was time for me to head up to Arithmancy; it takes a while to get up there.

            So I grabbed my bag and said, "If anyone else wishes to get to class on time, I suggest that we leave now."

            With that said, Rebecca, Lillie, Andrew, Tommy, Krista, and Bianca stood and walked out the door with me. On the way there, I had them inform Andrew and myself about what we had missed. Thankfully, we hadn't missed much.

            So that class passed by without any trouble.

            Then it was time to head down for Care of Magical Creatures. Rebecca came with us; Andrew, myself, and Tommy. She had Herbology; we all had to go outside, so why not go together?

            At the entrance of the school, we met up with Harry, Hermione, and Adrianna.

            Looking around and not seeing any flaming red hair, I asked, "Harry, where's Ron? You always have the same classes."

            "He had his schedule changed so he could have every class with Alli," he replied.

            "When did this happen?" I asked further.

            "Monday. You were still out."

            "Oh." Not wanting to make this a bad day, I said, "Vamos a Care of Magical Creatures o Herbology!"

            That got everyone to lighten up. We ran outside, though I still wasn't up to my usual standards, but neither was Andrew, so I didn't feel too bad. Reaching Hagrid's hut, Rebecca left us for Herbology. The rest of us went to the fenced-in area, waiting to see what the creature of the day would be.

            Not seeing anything there, Andrew and I went to find Hagrid so we could ask about what we had missed. I didn't expect that we had missed much though. We found him coming from an edge of the Forbidden Forest, carrying a large, wooden crate.

            "I won't even ask about what's in there," I whispered to Andrew, who was still eyeing that crate uneasily.

            "Well, hello thar Cristina, Andrew. Glad ter sees the two of yeh back. But where's yer friend, Mr. Wood, at?"  he said.

            At hearing that, I was yet again reminded that Oliver was still in the Hospital Wing. I just looked down at the ground.

            "Oh, er, I'm sorry Cristina," Hagrid said putting the crate down, which was covered by a heavy lid. "Yeh know what? Wer' not doin' much today, so if yeh wants, Andrew here could stay an' take notes for yeh while ye's visits Mr. Wood. Just don' tell none o yer other teacher's I let yeh do this, righ'?"

            Looking up, I gave a weak smile and said, "Thanks Hagrid. No one else will know."

            Getting my bag off of the ground, I started walking back towards the castle. Then I stopped to say one last thing: "Andrew, you better take good notes. I can't afford to get behind anymore than I already am." Then I walked off.

************************************************************************

            Upon reaching the Hospital Wing, I walked over to Oliver's bed and set my bag next to it.

            "Hey Oliver, I'm back," I said, sitting on an edge of his bed and taking his hands in mine. "I was able to get out of class to come and see you, but I can't say how; it's a secret that I promised I'd keep. Seems like you haven't changed since I left you this morning. It's been too long. I can't stand seeing you like this. Everyone was happy that Andrew and I were out of here and back in classes, but they don't like to mention you around me. And I appreciate that. But for now, I'm here with you."

            When I get emotional sometimes, it seems that I become a bit drowsy. So, with that, I soon fell asleep.

************************************************************************

            "Cristina? Cristina, wake up. We've gotta get to Charms now. Come on, get up," someone said to me, shaking me until I got up.

            "I'm up, I'm up," I said warily, looking to see who it was; oh, Tommy had come to get me. "¿Por qué tú eres aquí?"

            "What? I have no idea what you just said, but I came to find you since you weren't at lunch. Andrew said I would find you here. So get up and let's get to class," he said, handing me my bag and dragging me off the bed. Taking one last look at Oliver, I was gone.

            We met up with Andrew, Rebecca, Lillie, Kevin, Taylor, Becca, Ken, Robin, and Bethany outside of our Charms classroom. No one said anything as we walked in and took our seats. I sat between Rebecca and Bethany.

            "Today class, we will be learning the spell, _Spongify_. This spell will turn solid objects, such as a floor tile, into a spongy surface which you can bounce quite high on," Professor Flitwick said to us, causing us to all become more attentive.

************************************************************************

            "That was a really fun class!" Robin said, pulling out her wand and pointing it at a floor tile a few feet from us. "_Spongify!_"

            She couldn't resist. She jumped on the now spongy surface and flew through the air until she came down, which was quite funny. Then we all did the same, just wanting to experience that weightless sensation.

            "Ok, time to get serious now," I said, trying to stop my own laughing, "some of us have to get to Divination now, unfortunately."

            And that we did; myself, Andrew, Kevin, and Rebecca. When we got to the trapdoor that would take us to our class, we found Harry, Ron and Alli waiting for us. Then we all ascended into that stuffy, asthmatic's-nightmare of a room.

            As soon as I got in there, I made sure to stake my claim on the table next to the window, so I could open the window and breathe.

            I've learned before to never disturb a teacher if they happen to be in a 'trance,' so I just sat back down at my table, which was now occupied by Kevin, Andrew and Harry, while the table next to us was occupied by Ron, Alli, and Rebecca.

            "Great. I get to end my day in torture," I said, trying to force the window open. "Well would you look at that," I mumbled, getting the boys' attention, "our Professor Trelawney is trying to stop us from breathing. She's put a lock on the window. Alright, then I'll just have to get even. _Alohomora_."

            And saying that caused the window to swing open, relieving us with the fresh air. That's also when we saw our teacher come out of her 'trance.'

            "Well, guess this means we won't have a free class today," Kevin said, causing us to laugh.

************************************************************************

            "I really don't know if that class could be any more boring than it already is," Rebecca said, yawning and stretching her arms.

            "I'm sure it could be, but let's not 'jinx' ourselves, ok?" I said, causing everyone else to laugh at my little pun.

            "Since we're near the Common Room, let's go put our stuff up before heading down to dinner," Ron said, taking Alli's arm.

            So we all went to the Common Room, dropped off our bags in our dorms, and left for dinner.

************************************************************************

            Dinner over, we returned to the Common Room, nicely full of food and ready for the weekend.

            An hour later, while everyone else was busy doing whatever they wanted, mostly talking, I snuck into the Fifth year boy's dorm room and went over to Oliver's trunk.

            "_Alohomora," I whispered, so no one downstairs could hear me._

            His trunk popped open and I grabbed what I was in there for. I quickly closed and locked it back. Then I went back to my own dorm room, climbed into my bed, pulled the curtains closed, and pretended to sleep.

            "Alright everyone, lights out," I heard Rebecca tell our House. Minutes later, she walked into our room, got into her bed, and was soon sleeping.

            I waited at least thirty minutes, just to make sure that everyone was sleeping. Then I got out of bed, still wearing my uniform, and grabbed what I'd had on my bed with me; my wand, my Invisibility Cloak, and the item from Oliver's trunk.

            Making my way down to the Common Room, I made sure to be as quiet as I could. As soon as I was outside of the Common Room, I heard the portrait of the Fat Lady close behind me.

            Throwing on my Invisibility Cloak, I silently made my way to the Hospital Wing. Upon reaching it, I pulled out my wand and removed my cloak.

            "_Lumos," I whispered as the tip of my wand lit up._

            Using my wand as a light, I made my way over to Oliver's bed. Reaching him, I sat down next to him on his bed. Then I pulled out what I had taken from his trunk; Oliver's Quidditch playbook, full of plays that he made up for our team. 

            Stroking his head with one hand, I used my other hand to look through his play book. He'd said that I could borrow it anytime I wanted to. He'd also made me the team's second Captain, so I've seen every play in here, except for any new ones, which, knowing him, there should be at least 15 new plays right now. So I flipped through every play, just to review them, when I got to the new ones.

            But then I noticed something: he had written my name in his playbook, many, many times over. I went straight to the back of it; he had a picture of the two of us together in the back of his playbook, holding the Quidditch Cup after we had won it the year before. I also saw where I had signed his book:

            'Oliver,

                        You're the most amazing Keeper. EVER! And you're an even more amazing friend. Don't you forget that either. I really like being with you. Never change who you are.

                                                            Tu numero una amiga,

                                                                        Cristina'

            I sat there, stroking his head and flipping between plays and our picture for who-knows-how-long. All I knew was that it was really late, and if I was caught, I was in deep trouble.

            I was really tired. That explains why I started to doze off until I finally did fall asleep.

            The next thing I knew, I was moving, but I wasn't walking. Someone was carrying me. I didn't care who it was, but I did feel that I was still holding my wand and Oliver's playbook. I barely opened my eyes and saw, through the darkness, that there was a fabric-like covering over me and whoever was carrying me.

            "Good, I have everything," I said to myself.

            With that, I was asleep again.

************************************************************************

            "Rise and shine Cristina," I heard someone say to me.

            "¿Qué? ¿Quien eres?" I asked groggily while opening my eyes.

            "It's me silly; Rebecca," she said.

            Getting up out of bed, I saw that I was still in my uniform from yesterday.

            "Glad to see you're up now. Did you forget that you promised to hold practise today?" Rebecca said to me, handing me my sport outfit (A.N. If you can't remember, I'm talking about the tight black bike-shorts and tight white tank-top.)

            "Yeah, thanks," I said, heading into the bathroom to change.

************************************************************************

            I found the rest of the team at breakfast.

            "Hola team," I said, getting their attention. "Alli, I see you're ready, since you have to be our temporary Keeper."

            We were soon on the pitch, practising all of our usual plays and some of the new ones I had looked over.

            We were out there pretty much all day. Alli wasn't like Oliver, but she wasn't bad. If we ever had to have a new Keeper for a match, she'd be my first choice.

            By the time we finished, it was time for dinner. So we went up to the Great Hall. As soon as we were done, we raced back to the Common Room, me bringing up the rear because I wasn't in the mood.

            Reaching the dorm, I found the bathroom to be empty, so I went and cleaned myself up with a nice long shower.

************************************************************************

            Plopping down onto my bed afterwards, I just stared up at the top of my bed, which I had enchanted to show the night sky, yet show the stars every night.

            I tried to fall asleep, but I just couldn't stop thinking about Oliver. I had to go and see him again.

            Peeking out of my curtains, I saw that everyone was asleep, and not about to wake up anytime soon.

            I grabbed a small bag that I use for carrying my Invisibility Cloak in and I grabbed my wand. Of course I also had my Invisibility Cloak. I didn't have the playbook with me though; I had put it back into Oliver's trunk.

            Since I had all I needed, I went down into the Common Room, the second night in a row, but this time I wasn't alone.

            As I was about to walk out of the portrait, I heard a boy say, "Will I have to come and retrieve you again?"

            I turned and came face-to-face with Andrew.

            "Last night......it was you? You carried me all the way here?"

            "Yeah, I knew you had left. And I knew where you would be. So I had to sneak around, just in case anyone was lurking for loose students. But I found you, and I carried you here, placed you in your bed, and let you sleep."

            "Thanks for caring Andrew," I said, giving him another kiss before running out the through the portrait.

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            Reaching the Hospital Wing again, I did the same as I had the night before. But this time, instead of sitting next to Oliver, I put my cloak into my bag, as well as my wand, but my bag on the floor, and kissed his forehead.

            Then, not really caring what I did or if I got caught, I pulled back the covers and got into his bed with him, pulling the covers back up, only now over the two of us.

            Before I fell asleep for the night, I put my right arm over his chest, so I could still feel him next to me all night.

            Then, I fell asleep.

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A.N.)  Sorry, but that's it for this long chapter. Yes, I, the author of this fic, have decided to speak. Sorry that it took this long to get the chapter out, but it was worth the wait. And I do owe some of you a word or two of thanks:

Becca Black and Twilight~ I owe the two of you a lot, for first reading this during Hellth (hehe) and wanting me to write more. The two of you are awesome! Keep reading, I know you will, especially since I have a surprise coming, and I won't tell what.

Rebecca~ Every time I talk to you, you always want to know if I have added more, and for that I'm grateful. What would I do without you all these years?

Everyone else~ Spread the word of my fic, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd love for people to see my writing. Keep reading!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, just in case anyone asks, I don't own any characters here, except for Cristina. I made her up from the top of my imagination after personalities taken from myself. Some, not all personalities. All the others are from, duh, Harry Potter, with the exception of those from various other books and movies (and I'm not naming all of them).

What I wouldn't do to actually own Oliver Wood...........!!!! *drools and dies*


	8. Surprise!

Chapter 8

            "Can I never wake up on my back?" I asked myself, not opening my eyes yet.

            Finally I opened my eyes, the bright late-morning light almost blinding me. I noticed that I was back in the Hospital Wing.

            "I really do need to stop waking up here," I thought to myself. "I don't see Oliver in any of those other beds. He must be somewhere in the other direction."

            I turned my head the other way.

            "Oh."

            I had forgotten that, late last night, I had gotten into Oliver's bed with him. What a great way to scare myself first thing in the morning.

            "Well, I better get down to breakfast before anyone sends a search-party for me," I mumbled to no one as I slid my right arm over Oliver's chest back to me.

            But something had my hand.

            I sat straight up in the bed to see what was holding my hand captive: Oliver's hands were squeezing my right hand. Oliver was awake! He was finally awake after a week! Ok, not completely; but enough to take my hand in his!

            I was so excited that I didn't pay attention to the fact that he was moving around. But when he squeezed my hand even tighter; yeah, that definitely got my attention. I looked at him again just in time to see him open his dazzling brown eyes.

            "What took you so long?" I asked, laughing and crying at the same time.

            "How long was I out?" he whispered, not quite able to talk.

            "Una semana, Oliver," I said in my native tongue.

            "A full week?" he said, slowly sitting up as I moved to sit in front of him.

            "Sí."

            "No wonder I'm so hungry then," he whispered in reply.

            "Oh yeah, you should be. People will go crazy if they see you down there. I'll run down there and bring up as much as I can," I said, getting off his bed and picking up my bag.

            "What if someone asks what you're doing?" he asked.

            "You should know me better than that by now Oliver," I replied with a grin, "you know that I can make up some really good lies. But I suggest that you pretend to still be out until I return."

            And with that, I was off to breakfast while holding a secret from the rest of the school.

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            "Hey Cris, where were you?" Alli asked me as I walked into the Great Hall.

            "Durmiente," I replied, sitting down next to Andrew and across from Bethany.

            Moving closer to me, Andrew whispered into my ear, "Sleeping with anyone in particular?"

            The next thing he knew, he got my elbow in his stomach: "Cállese tu prat!"

            He got my point.

            Luckily I had come to breakfast at the perfect time; it was almost over, so while everyone else was leaving, I was still eating.

            "Are you coming Cristina?" Bethany asked me before she walked out the door.

            "I'll be up there soon, I just got here," I replied.

            Then I was left alone in the Great Hall. Making sure again that no one was in there with me, I pulled out my bag and started filling it with any kind of food I found that wouldn't make a mess of my bag. By the time I was done filling it, my bag was pretty heavy. That's when I decided to head back up to Oliver.

            On the way up there, I couldn't help singing softly to myself: "I'm so excited....."

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            I walked over to his bed.

            "Oliver, it's me. I'm back and I've got food."

            That got his attention. He sat up in the bed so quickly, I almost dropped my bag.

            "Don't scare me like that. You've already scared me enough just being in here," I said, sitting in front of him on his bed. "Here, this should last you until dinner hopefully," I added, handing him my bag.

            "Thanks a lot Cristina!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around me.

            "_Don't let go of me now, please don't. I'm loving this!" I said to myself._

            But he had to, seeing as how he hadn't eaten anything in over a week. So I told him what had been happening ever since I had left the Hospital Wing while he ate. Of course the first thing I told him was about how Quidditch practise had gone the day before. I then told him about classes and what had been covered.

            By the time I had finished talking, he had finished eating. So then we had the chance to talk again with each other.

            "I see that your hand is healing," he said, pointing at my still slightly bandaged hand.

            "What? Oh yeah, it is. I can take the bandage off in a few days," I replied.

            "Good. As soon as I'm out of here, practise will continue, but we'll need to practise more than one day a week," he said, not letting his mind stray from Quidditch.

            "_Well, that proves that he's fine. He still only thinks about Quidditch," I thought to myself, but found it to be a good thing._

            But then a thought occurred to me: "Oliver?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Um, before the Bludgers hit me, you put yourself over me to protect me. And then you said that you wouldn't let anything happen to me and then that you loved me. Do you really love me?" I asked him, looking deep into his shimmering brown eyes.

            "Yes, I meant every word of what I said," he replied, returning my gaze and giving me one of his irresistible smiles.

            He loves me, he really does. I couldn't believe it. I thought I'd only be friends with guys. But now.............that explains why I couldn't help what I did next.

            Getting onto my knees, I said, "Well, I've got something to tell you now."

            I saw the light in his eyes fade, as well as his smile.

            "_This is so perfect; he's falling for it," I thought to myself._

            Then, while still on my knees, I pushed him back down onto the bed, my face mere inches from his and whispered, "I love you too Oliver."

            The light became brighter than ever in his eyes.

            The next thing I knew, our faces were even closer. It was as if someone was slowly pushing me closer to him, but no one else was in there.

            Before I knew it, his lips were touching mine. I thought that I had died and gone to heaven! This was so wonderful! I never wanted it to end.

            I was so relaxed that my hands, which had been holding him down on the bed, slipped out from under me, thus causing me to lay completely on top of him which caused him to accidentally bite my upper lip.

            I pulled back.

            "Aye, Cristina. I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to," he said as I sat there rubbing my lip.

            "It's ok, I'm the one who couldn't keep their balance," I replied, smiling at him. "Shall we continue now?" I added as I pushed him back down.

            "Please, let's continue," he replied, putting his arms around me and pulling me down onto him as he started sucking on my bottom lip while I went for his top lip.

            Beats me how long we were doing that; when one is enjoying something greatly, they lose track of time. But I do know that after a while, Oliver un-tucked the light blue, button-up blouse that I was wearing, while we were still making out, and slid both hands under it, running his hands on the skin of my back.

            And I wasn't about to stop him.

            His hands continued to move up my back and then up my neck. Then he tried to take my hair down since I'd put it up in a bun, but couldn't since I had put pins in it to hold it in place.

            "_So, he wants my hair down. I'll let my hair down, but not before messing with his mind," I thought smugly to myself as I moved my hands down onto his chest._

            With my hands in that position, I pushed myself up; but that's where I started messing with his mind: in Muggle schools, they teach you about First Aid and how applying pressure will stop bleeding. I however, picked up the thought that applying pressure at the hips will drive a guy insane. My thinking was correct; I was driving Oliver insane by doing that while removing the pins from my hair. The look in his eyes said it all. Finally, I let my hair down and slowly slid back down, his lips meeting mine again.

            "You know you drive me crazy, don't you Cristina?" he whispered into my ear.

            "I know, but that's the point," I replied.

            "I don't see why you have your shirt buttoned up all the way," Oliver said, bringing his hands around and un-buttoning the top button of my shirt.

            "Well, maybe you could take care of that problem for me," I said as he did the next one.

            He was one the fifth one, which would have begun to reveal what guys love to see, when someone walked in and said, "Cristina, there you are. I've been looking for......"

            I jerked my head up: "Bethany! Ahhh!"

            I had shouted because Oliver sat up so quickly, he knocked me onto the floor. I was afraid that Bethany would say something, so I pulled out my wand.

            "_Silencius!" I shouted, pointing my wand at one of my best friends._

            After putting the silencing charm on her, I called her over, sort of: "_Accio Bethany!"_

            Getting back onto the bed, she just stood there, not being able to say anything, while I attempted to explain what had happened that day, though I left out the details of Oliver and me making out.

            Knowing that she'd want to say something, I took the silencing spell off of her so she could say what she had to. But her reaction wasn't what I expected.

            "You finally have a boyfriend Cristina! I'm so happy for you!" she exclaimed, wrapping me in a hug.

            "Bethany, can't breathe, please let go of me," I said, barely.

            "Sorry Cristina. So, what can I do to help the two of you? You know that there's no way Oliver can come back to the Common Room without being attacked by every other girl in the school, as well as in there. And what are you going to do about getting dinner up here? Breakfast was an easy task, but dinner won't be," she said, most willing to help me get Oliver down from here.

            "Well, dinner should be starting now. So, to hide any suspicions, Bethany and I will go down and eat dinner. When everyone is done and everything has been cleared, then we can carry on the next part of my plan," I replied, getting off of the bed and re-buttoning my blouse.

            "Looks like you're back to faking it again Oliver. But I'll wake you as soon as we finish," I said to him before giving him a very passionate kiss goodbye.

            "Are you quite ready yet Cristina?" Bethany asked, rather impatiently.

            "Sí, sí. Vamos ahora," I replied, walking out with her.

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            "Good, you found her Bethany," Robin said as we entered the Great Hall.

            I went and took my place next to Andrew as Bethany sat in front of me.

            "So what have you been doing Cristina?" Rebecca asked me as I filled my plate.

            "I've been doing all of my homework that I needed to make up and I've done almost all of my homework for the next week," I said, which was partly true. I did have almost all of my homework for the upcoming week done, but that's not what I was doing. "And what have you been doing?"

            "Nothing interesting, I'll tell you that. I had to go to the Prefect and Head Girl/ Head Boy meeting as soon as I left breakfast, and it just finished not even twenty minutes ago. It lasted so long because there was a lot to cover. There are so many events this year, it's enough to make your head turn," Rebecca said, causing us to lean in closer so no one else could hear. "First of all, in this first term of the year, a Halloween Dance will be held as well as the Yule Ball before we leave for the Winter Break. And our first Hogsmeade visit is next weekend."

            That got all of us very excited. I couldn't wait to get back to Oliver and tell him about all of this.

            "Andrew?" I whispered to Andrew, getting his attention.

            "Yeah?"

            "When dinner's over, could you come with me to the Hospital Wing?"

            "Yeah, sure, whatever you ask," he replied, smiling at me.

            "Thanks Andrew."

            Soon enough, dinner was over and everything on the tables disappeared. While everyone else went back to their own Common Rooms, Bethany, Andrew, and I went up to the Hospital Wing.

            "So, are you bringing me along for support Cristina?" Andrew asked me, slipping an arm around my waist and drawing me closer to him.

            Bethany just gave me a look. I knew what she meant.

            "Sí Andrew. I couldn't bear to go up there alone again," I said as Bethany walked between the two of us.

            "Andrew, do you mind if I speak to Cristina?" Bethany asked, dropping the hint for him to walk further ahead of us.

            "Yeah sure, I'll leave you two to talk about girlie stuff," he replied, walking ahead of us.

            "Obviously, you haven't told Andrew yet. Otherwise he would know that Oliver was awake and that you have been so nicely claimed by him as well. What are you going to do Cristina? You know Andrew's as crazy about you as Oliver is; but Oliver beat him to you. What the hell are you going to do? He will find out soon enough," she said, making me face the reality of the situation.

            Yes, Andrew is crazy about me. And of course Oliver is too. And plenty of other guys throughout the school. This is no secret to me. I've felt like those two have been after me since the day we all met. And I really am in for some trouble: I really love Oliver, but I do also love Andrew. I just don't know what to do. I'm just hoping the answer will come soon. But anyway.......

            "Bethany, I'm really not sure what I'll do. Right now I just want to celebrate the fact that Oliver's awake and I finally have a boyfriend," I replied.

            "Whatever you say. It's all up to you. No one else can choose for you," she said as we reached the Hospital Wing.

            "I know," I replied as we walked over to Oliver's bed; again.

            Sitting down on his bed, Andrew sat next to me. Little did he know what I had in store for him.

            "Oliver. I'm back," I said to Oliver.

            As soon as he heard me speak, he sat straight up in the bed.

            "Shit!" Andrew yelled, literally flipping over the end of the bed in alarm and hitting the floor; hard.

            Oliver, Bethany, and I just started laughing so hard. It was just too funny seeing Andrew's reaction.

            "Surprise Andrew!" I yelled, still laughing.

            "What the hell just happened here?!" he asked, still a little shocked still.

            "I'll explain, seeing as how this is so hard for someone like you to figure out," I replied, trying to stop the laughter.

            And I did explain to him all that had happened that day, but still leaving anything out about Oliver and me getting together. I still couldn't tell him, I just couldn't.

            "So, why am here then?" Andrew asked me, since only I knew.

            "Well, I thought that it would be good for Oliver to be able to speak to another guy, and you were the first to come to my mind," I replied while getting off of the bed. "And I knew you'd be able to help us get Oliver out of here. But we've gotta do something else first."

            I pulled out my Invisibility Cloak and pulled Oliver out of bed.

            "What are you going to do with that?" Bethany asked me.

            "Well, I know a little secret that the three of you will be in on soon. But I won't tell you until we get there. The cloak is for Oliver to hide under, so that no one knows anything about him yet. Andrew and I will help him down to the first floor while you, Bethany, look out for teachers the entire way down. Any questions?"

            Of course there were no questions. Why would they argue? So then I threw my cloak onto Oliver, causing him to disappear.

            "Bueno. Since we can't see you now, come stand between me and Andrew and put one arm around our shoulders so we can help support you," I said.

            As soon as I said that, I felt something go around my neck and then land on my left shoulder.

            "_Great. This is going as planned so far," I thought to myself._

            Then I felt Oliver's hand slowly move further down. And he knew I couldn't say anything because then Bethany and Andrew would just look at me in strange ways. So I had to let his hand stay there.

            "_Damn! I bet Oliver's been hanging out with Andrew too long again. I bet he's just smiling like crazy under that cloak right now. Not that I mind too much or anything, just kind of scared me, that's all......" I thought to myself._

            "Alright, I believe we are ready now. ¡Vamos!" I said.

            And we were off for my secret surprise.

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            Reaching the first floor, I led the rest of them down a hallway of portraits.

            "Cristina, why are we here? This is a dead-end hallway. There are only portraits here," Bethany said to me.

            "That's what you think," I said, removing Oliver's arm from around me.

            Then I walked over to a very large portrait of a bowl of fruit. Finding the green pear, I tickled it with one hand while I signaled my friends to come closer to the wall.

            As the pear started to giggle, the portrait swung open and we walked in.

            "Welcome to the school's kitchen my friends!" I exclaimed as Oliver took off my cloak and were surrounded by house-elves.

            "What we do for you?" the elves asked in unison.

            "My friend here has been sick for a while and needs some food. So could you give him everything that he asks for? That would be great," I said, indicating Oliver.

            "Come, we gets what yous wants," one of them said, taking Oliver over to a table while the rest of us sat in front of the fireplace.

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            "Oliver, are you ready to leave yet?" I called to him from where I was sitting.

            "I believe so. I don't think I can eat anymore," he replied, getting up from the table and coming over to us.

            "Alright then, let's get back to our Common Room before anyone sends search parties," I said, getting up at the same time as Bethany and Andrew. "Here Oliver; you'll need this a lot more now. You're coming back to the Common Room with us, but no one else will see you until tomorrow," I added, handing him my cloak.

            As we headed for the portrait door, we said goodbye to the house-elves.

            "Thanks to all of you for helping out Oliver. I promise we'll come back to visit you all soon," I said, as Oliver disappeared and once again walked between me and Andrew.

            "Please be back soon; we's miss you's," we heard one of them call out as we walked out of the kitchen.

            "You can thank the twins for the secret later. They showed this to me in our first year," I said.

            When we were walking to the stairs that would take us to the Grand Staircase, I felt Oliver squeeze my left shoulder to get my attention. Then I could tell that his head was near mine because I could feel the fabric of the cloak near my right ear.

            "Thanks for everything Cristina," Oliver whispered.

            I just smiled as his head moved away and his hand drifted down again.

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            Finally we reached our Common Room right as the first search party was about to leave.

            "Where were the three of you?" Rebecca asked me as we walked in.

            "We were......." I began to say as I was cut off by Andrew.

            "Cristina had asked me and Bethany to walk with her while discussing some things," he said, quickly making up an answer.

            "Sí, I was talking to them about how I was feeling with Oliver being in the Hospital Wing and all," I added, hoping she'd believe me.

            "Oh. Well I hope that you'll feel a little better now since talking it out, won't you?" Rebecca asked, being the concerned friend she is.

            "Actually, I'm already feeling a lot better, thank you," I replied, hoping she wouldn't noticed that Bethany was desperately holding back her laughter.

            "I'm glad to her that," Rebecca replied, smiling at me.

            "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed early tonight. I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights," I said as Andrew desperately tried to hold in his laughter.

            "Goodnight then Cristina, Bethany, and Andrew. Sleep well."

            "I will," the three of us said in unison as we walked up the stairs to our dorms, Oliver still between Andrew and me, still not moving his hand.

            Reaching our dorm rooms, we stopped so we could talk a little more.

            "The two of you are hopeless," I said as Andrew and Bethany both just burst out laughing. "Come on now, we said we'd get to bed. Oh, and Andrew, please bring my cloak back over later, will you? Gracias. And Oliver, please get out of your Quidditch uniform; it's been more than a week."

            "Oh I will. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Sleep well Cristina," Oliver whispered so that no one else could hear him but me.

            "Alright then. Is anyone in here?" Andrew asked, stepping into their dorm. "Ok, it's empty. Come on in Oliver."

            As soon as he walked in, their door closed and Bethany opened the door to our dorm room.

            "I'm hitting the shower before you, alright Cris?" she said, walking into the bathroom and locking the door.

            "Sure, not like I had a choice anyway," I yelled back at her.

            Not even a minute after I had said that, I heard someone knock at our door. So of course I opened it. No one was there. So I went back into my dorm and closed the door. Turning around to go lay down in my bed while Bethany was using the shower, I came face-to-face with Andrew, holding my Invisibility Cloak out in front of me. But here's what got my attention; he had no shirt on.

            "Andrew! What are you doing in here?!" I asked, a little alarmed but also kind of enjoying this.

            "I came to return this," he said, returning my cloak to me.

            I didn't know what to say, so I just made something up: "Uh.......how's Oliver doing?"

            "He's just cleaning up right now, thankfully," he replied.

            "That's good. So........what was the point of you coming in here wearing my cloak?" I asked him.

            "The point? This was the point."

            Before I knew what he was doing, Andrew had his arms around my waist. He pulled me to him, making me drop my cloak to the ground. Then he leaned in closer, and kissed me. I didn't know what I was doing; I put my arms around his bare neck and just let him continue. The next thing I know, my tongue was in his mouth! WHAT THE HELL WAS HE DOING?! WHAT WAS I DOING?!

            Hearing the shower turn off, he just stopped. All I could do was stand there, staring at his bare chest. I could have died right there. He just smiled at me.

            "Guess I should go now. Good night Cristina, sleep well."

            And with that said, he was gone. I bent over to pick up my cloak. I walked over to my bed and put my cloak into my trunk, as well as my bag. I put my wand on my nightstand.

            "Alright, I'm done," Bethany said, walking out as I grabbed my pajamas; a dark blue tank-top and baggy knee-length black shorts.

            While in the shower, I kept asking myself the same things constantly: "_What have I done? What if Oliver finds out? Now what am I going to do? I'm caught between two guys that I love and that love me back. What am I going to do?"_

            Finishing my shower, I went to lie in my bed, just staring at the night sky in my bed, thinking.

            "_I am in some trouble now, aren't I?"_

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A.N.) Hey all of my very few readers. Here's my latest chapter for you. Hope you enjoyed it. I don't believe that it falls into the 'Sappy', category does it? I was attempting 'Fluff', but I'm not quite sure the definition for 'fluff' and 'sappy'. I know it was long, honestly I wasn't aiming for that, just kinda happened. As always; thank you my faithful readers, spread the word of this, and most importantly, keep reading AND reviewing.


	9. Some Secrets Revealed

A few things to say before I get started:

I swear that I'll try my absolute hardest to not use the word k-n-e-e-s (technically Becca, I did not use the word just now, I spelled it.) I too am tired of using it, but when nothing else comes to mind, what can I say?

I hope that no one was disappointed by Chapter 8. I thought that it would be a good time for some excitement, and that's just what I did. Of course, right now my O.C. is stuck between 2 boys. Even I don't know what happens yet! I just go with whatever comes to my mind.

Enough talking from me, enjoy!

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Chapter 9

            "Cristina, wake up! Are you forgetting what we have to do this morning?" someone whispered to me.

            "This morning.......what?" I asked groggily, since I was so rudely awoken by Bethany. "Oh yeah, that's right!"

            "Well now that you remember, hurry up and get ready before anyone else wakes up. Otherwise this won't work," she said to me as I got out of bed and went to get dressed.

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            "Are the guys up and dressed yet?" I asked as she closed the door to our dorm room.

            "I hope they are," Bethany said as she opened their door and pushed me in.

            Luckily I ran into Andrew and Oliver as they were about to walk out the door. They just kind of looked at me. They probably thought that I was crazy or something.

            "Were you coming to get us Cristina?" Andrew asked me.

            "Yes, but I had no opinion in the matter," I replied as I turned around to glare at Bethany, who was, in fact, laughing her head off.

            "¡Cállese Bethany! You'll wake up everyone!" I hissed at her.

            "I'm ok now. Let's get out of here," she said, still holding back some laughter.

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            We finally reached the Great Hall. Thankfully no one else was around to see us walk down there. We didn't even see any teachers.

            Sitting down at our table, the food began to appear. Oliver just stared at it like it was going to disappear. Before you knew it, he was attacking all of it!

            "Oliver! It's not going anywhere! Down boy!" I said to him while the rest of us laughed.

            "Maybe we should start eating before he takes it all," Andrew said, still laughing.

            And that we did, until we heard a loud mass of students heading our way.

            "Well Oliver, I guess you'll have to do the same as what I did when I came back," I said, turning to speak to him.

            "And what exactly did you have to do?" he asked me, looking rather confused.

            I dropped my fork under our table: "Hold on a second while I get it."

            Oliver grabbed my hand under the table and looked me in the eyes: "Don't bother; I'll get it."

            Letting go of my hand, he stuck his head under the table and reached for my fork. This was so perfect; I could easily hide him now. So he wasn't expecting what I did next.

            Before he knew it, I had my hands on his back and shoved him under the table. Then I put my feet on top of him to hold him there. He wasn't too thrilled about that.

            "Cristina?! What the hell are you doing holding me down here?!" he asked me.

            Before I could answer, the rest of the school's population poured into the Great Hall. It wasn't easy holding him down there, but I did as the rest of my friends filtered in.

            "Morning Cristina! You seem to be in a better mood now," Rebecca said to me as she sat down.

            "Oh she is," Bethany and Andrew said in unison, yet still managing to keep smiles only.

            "Cristina? What are you doing down here so early?" Becca asked me as she walked in and sat down in front of where Oliver had been sitting.

            But, not knowing that he was there, she kicked him when she sat down; thus causing him to jump out from under the table, cussing and rubbing his head.

            He also happened to get the attention of everyone in the Great Hall at the time. Personally, I loved how the Slytherin Quidditch team just glared at him, knowing that their plan to take us out after I had beaten the shit out of their Captain had failed. I couldn't help but sit there and grin.

            But then it also occurred to me as I looked around the Great Hall: every girl in the school that was in love with Oliver was staring at him, mouths open and tongues practically hanging out.

            "Uh oh. So much for keeping a low profile," I whispered to him as I stood up.

            "I couldn't help it. I know she didn't mean to because she didn't know I was there, but that really hurt," he whispered back as our friends stared in disbelief.

            Bethany was just looking around, trying to act like she didn't know anything about Oliver being down here. Andrew was just sitting next to where I had been, his face buried in his hands; laughing.

            "_Memo me, kick Andrew later and see how funny he thinks it is then," I said to myself as the girls of the school stood and stared some more._

            Before I knew it, Oliver had a hold on my arm and we were running through the school, trying to get away from all of the screaming girls following him.

            "What about our bags?" I asked as we continued to run.

            "Don't worry about it. We'll go back later, when it's safe," he replied as we turned left into a dead-end hallway.

            I'd say that we had about three minutes before the girls caught up to us. We couldn't go back, they'd surround us easily.

            "Aye! Now what do we do?!" Oliver said, trying to find a way out.

            That's when it occurred to me: "Oliver! Quickly, into this portrait!"

            "What's the password for it?"

            "You don't need one. Just walk in!"

            Not moving, I grabbed _his_ arm and pulled him into the portrait just as the screaming got louder behind us.

            "Don't say anything. Just keep looking out there. We can see out, but no one can see in. Not a word until they leave," I whispered in his ear.

            It was pitch-black in that fairly small room behind the empty portrait.

            You're probably wondering how I happened to discover this little secret. Well, I'll tell you: I was looking at The Marauders Map with Harry one day when I noted a hallway that was only filled with portraits and was a dead-end. I knew it was one of many, but I decided to check it out when I noticed a small room behind one of the portraits. I then asked Fred and George about it later. They told me that I would find a portrait with no witch or wizard in it. It was completely black. All I had to do was go up to it and just keep walking through it. Then I would be inside of the secret little room. Anyone inside of it could see and hear all that went on outside of the portrait, but no one could see into it. But they could hear you if you were too loud.

            But anyway, back to the small, can't-see-anything-in-here room...........

            I only knew where Oliver was for one reason: he had his arms wrapped around my waist as if I was going to try to go back out into that mob scene we were watching. Yeah right! I would never give away a friend's location if they were hiding for good reasons. I considered this a very good reason not to leave.

            Then he pulled me closer to him and put his head on my shoulder. But he didn't stop there. Oliver then moved his head behind my hair, which I had not put up into a bun yet, and began kissing the back of my neck.

            "Oliver! Stop, they'll hear me!" I whispered in between giggles.

            "Why do I have to stop? You're the one giggling," he mumbled, not stopping to talk.

            I was really having a hard time staying quite, so I pulled out my wand and put a silencing spell on myself. I was immediately glad that I had done so too; the horde of girls filled into the hallway, looking for Oliver.

            "Where is he?!" some girl frantically yelled.

            "He must have Apparated away!" another girl screamed.

            "Wait! I know exactly where he went!" I heard someone yell over all the noise.

            Suddenly everything was quiet. Oliver stopped kissing me and went closer to the portrait entrance/exit. I followed so that I could see who was speaking. But I couldn't see anyone.

            I still had the silencing spell on myself, so I couldn't say anything to him, but I swear that he read my mind.

            "It's Kevin; I can just barely see him over all of the girls," he barely whispered to me.

            "Why should we listen to you? You're probably trying to hide him," some girl called out.

            "Well, I don't know what to say then. I mean, I just happen to be in his first class, which is Divination............."

            Before Kevin could finish what he was saying, the swarm took off for the Divination room. Making sure that no one else was around, Kevin walked toward the portrait we were behind. He then got as close to it as he could without walking through it. Then he stuck a hand through the portrait and signaled us to come out.

            It was still black as night in that small room, so Oliver couldn't see me when he grabbed me. But he realized where he'd grabbed me after we stepped out into the light.

            You see, we had been in such a hurry to get Oliver down to the Great Hall before everyone else that I only had time to grab my school robes. I was planning to put it on at breakfast, but I never had the chance to. So when Oliver grabbed me, he ended up grabbing the back of my skirt. When he pulled me out of the room, he wound up un-zipping my skirt. Though I wonder if her knew he had done that because he gave me this huge smiled when we stepped out.

            "Um Oliver, Kevin. If you guys don't mind, could you maybe.........you know?" I said to them after I had removed the silencing spell, blushing as I spoke.

            No sooner had I said that before they had turned around. I then proceeded to zip my skirt back up.

            "Ok, now we may get back to breakfast Oliver. But it may be almost over. Though, I do believe that you ate enough for a couple of people," I said, walking between the two boys.

            "Oh well. And thanks for the help Kevin. Otherwise I don't think we would ever have gotten back out," Oliver said to him.

            "As funny as we thought it was, we knew that someone would have to drive them away. So I decided to since I had already finished eating," Kevin replied.

            "But how did you know which portrait we were behind?" Oliver asked him.

            I answered his question: "One day last year, Kevin ran up to me and asked if I knew of a place where he could hide; his sister wouldn't leave him alone. So I showed him the portrait we were just behind and shoved him in. I just walked around, pretending to look at the portraits when his sister came up to me and asked if I had seen Kevin. I said that I had just seen him in the Library; so she took off. I then went back to the portrait and told him it was safe to come out. That's how he knew about it."

            "Yeah, she really helped me out by doing that," Kevin said, smiling at me. "Well, I gotta go now, so I'll see the two of you in Transfiguration."

            And with that, Kevin left us to get to some far off class.

            Seeing that no one else was around, Oliver slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him as we walked back to the Great Hall, which was a fairly short trip. I don't know what made him think of what he did next: he moved his arm just a little lower than my waist, so that his arm was touching my ass.

            "_What the hell is he trying to pull here?!" I asked myself._

            Reaching the Great Hall, I said to him, "Oliver, would you please remove your arm from my ass."

            He did, but not before whispering in my ear, "You have quite a lovely arse Cristina."

            I was very tempted to slap him; but how could anyone when they looked at that face of his? I mean, the way he looks at me with those eyes! It's enough to kill a girl! Oh, lo siento, back to where we were...............

            The first thing I did was put on my school robes and put my hair up into a bun. Then I picked up my stuff and headed towards Potions with Oliver.

            We found Andrew and Nick waiting for us half-way there.

            "I was wondering if Kevin had found you two yet," Andrew said to us as he walked next to me.

            "That wouldn't have been good if you ended up missing Potions. I could only imagine what torture would be planned for you," Nick said, using his odd sense of humor for the last remark.

            "Whatever; let's just get down there now," I said, walking faster to make them pick up their leisurely pace.

            Upon reaching the Dungeons, I went and sat between Bethany and Robin, as usual.

            Leaning over to Bethany, I whispered to her, "Bethany, when the day's classes are over and after dinner, meet me in the Library. I really need to talk to you about something."

            "Alright, I'll meet you there. Just as long as we aren't there all night; I still have to finish my essay for Charms."

            Not long after she said that, Snape walked in to begin class.

            "_Why do we have to go through with this?" I asked myself._


	10. Afternoon Fun

A.N.) Sorry if the last chapter wasn't all that great, I'm kinda suffering from a writer's mountain. Yes, my 'block' has turned into a mountain. I have almost gotten rid of it though: if you watch every scene that features Oliver Wood and listen to that sexy Scottish accent of his as well as just look at him.............. "Goodbye writer's mountain! Hello hot Oliver Wood!"

Ok, sorry bout that, just got a little carried away.........

And please.........a moment of silence for the recent loss (HP5).................

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Chapter 10

            Finally, Potions ended. We escaped from that class as quickly as we could.

            "I can't believe it! We lose ten points just because most of the girls in the class couldn't keep their eyes off of Oliver. What a load of shit!" Andrew yelled as soon we were out of earshot of the dungeons.

            "There's nothing we can do about that. You know he was just trying to find a way to take points from us anyway," I said as we all kept walking.

            Nick had already taken off. After the potion we had to make in class, he said that he had to get some fresh air. You can't blame him though, that potion smelled awful!

            Bethany and Robin took off for Arithmancy while Andrew went off to find an empty room.

            Oliver and I walked to the entrance hall.

            "Come on! Let's go Oliver!" I said as we reached the front doors.

            He just looked down at me and smiled.

            "You have a very sick mind," I said as we walked out onto the grounds.

            We finally got to the Greenhouse and went in. I sat next to Ashlyn who was sitting, no surprise at all, next to George.

            But, for a change, Oliver sat next to me.

            George and Ashlyn turned to look at us. I simply blushed and looked behind me, pretending to get something out of my bag.

            Turning back around, I leaned over to Ashlyn: "After dinner this evening, meet me in the Library. Don't ask why, just meet me there."

            "Whatever you say," she replied as Professor Sprout began handing out dragon-hide gloves for us to wear.

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            After class, everyone ran off to lunch, not bothering to take their time even though it was a wonderful day to be outside.

            But Oliver and I decided to skip lunch. Instead, we went over to the large tree in front of the lake and sat in the shade against its trunk.

            There was a nice, constant breeze; so I let my hair down to let it flow in the breeze. I then stretched my legs out in front of me and put my head on Oliver's shoulder.

            I felt Oliver take a deep breath, breathing in the warm air. I just closed my eyes as I moved my head down onto his lap.

            We were enjoying the silence. I was mostly enjoying the fact that I was there with Oliver, alone.

            I opened my eyes, looking up to see Oliver's deep brown eyes looking down into mine. We just smiled at each other.

            "Oliver, I love spending time with you. I don't feel like just another girl when you're with me. I've never felt so happy before. I feel important for once," I said to him quietly, not wanting to disrupt the silence.

            "You've always been important to me. Since the day I met you I've felt that you are important. And I don't just mean as the best Chaser on the team. You're important because you're YOU. And that's why I love you so much," he replied, his smile beaming down on me.

            He then reached into his shirt and pulled out something that was around his neck. I recognized it as my whale's tail necklace; I had slipped it around his neck while he was still in the hospital.

            "I believe this is yours," he said to me, holding it over my face, pulling it away each time I reached for it.

            He finally slipped it back around his neck and put it back down inside his shirt.

            "You can be so mean sometimes," I said, laughing.

            "Oh really? And what might you do about that?" he replied, grinning.

            "I'll just have to make you pay for that," I said, sitting up again.

            Before he knew what I was doing, I had him pinned on his back on the cool grass, laughing.

            "Better watch it Wood; I might have to get rough with you," I said as he flipped me over onto my back and pinned me to the ground.

            "Is that a threat?" he asked as I pinned him again.

            "Nope. It's a promise," I replied as I got pinned again.

            But I wasn't going to play nice anymore. I wanted to have a little fun. So I wrapped my legs around Oliver's and pulled him down onto the ground as I got up. But before I could go anywhere, he grabbed my ankles and brought me down. Then he pulled me to him, both of us laughing.

            We were then lying down next to each other on the grass, just watching the few clouds in the sky as they passed by.

            I yawned. Nice weather and being outside in it can make me tired because I'm enjoying it.

            Before I knew it, I had my head on Oliver's chest, feeling it rise and fall while he breathed. Feeling him put his arms around me, I soon fell asleep.

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            "Cristina, wake up. We have to go back to class now," someone said to me.

            Oliver. He was speaking to me.

            Getting up, I realized how well I had slept during my nap. But, we couldn't stay there forever; we had classes to go to.

            "What class do we have now?" I asked, the thought slipping from my mind.

            "Did something invisible hit you while you were sleeping? We have Defense Against the Dark Arts now, remember?" Oliver replied, laughing.

            "Lo siento, I forgot," I said as I too laughed.

            Reaching the entrance hall, we went up the main staircase. Reaching the top, we ran into Rebecca and Brian.

            "Where we you at lunch Cristina?" Rebecca asked me.

            "We......er.....I was sitting under the large tree in front of the lake, just enjoying the nice weather. Oliver was at the Quidditch pitch, just flying around again, since he hasn't for over a week now," I replied quickly.

            "It is a nice day. I don't blame you for being out there," Rebecca said, as she turned to walk to class.

            "Rebecca, after dinner this evening, meet me in the Library," I whispered to her.

            I saw her nod her head in reply as they walked away.

            A few minutes later, I passed on the same message to Becca and Robin as they too walked past us.

            "Is there something I'm missing?" Oliver asked me, giving me that irresistible look of his.

            "No, it's just so we can talk about some girl stuff," I replied, causing him to drop the subject as Andrew caught up to us.

            "Where we both of you at lunch?" Andrew asked us as we continued to class.

            "I was flying around my pitch while Cristina was studying in front of the large tree by the lake," Oliver replied, since I had completely forgotten what the excuse was that I had used earlier.

            "Wish I could have joined you, but I wanted to get that Charms essay done before midnight," Andrew said.

            "Now do you understand why I do mine in class?" I said to them as they both rolled their eyes at me.

            Walking into our classroom, I went and sat between Alicia and Deanna as Professor Travis walked in.

************************************************************************

            "That new spell was pretty cool, don't you think?" I said as we walked out of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

            "Yeah. Watch this: _Flagrate!_" Andrew said, causing a fiery X to appear on Alicia's bag.

            She never even noticed it. She's very much on the ditz side of things.

            Saying goodbye, Oliver, Andrew, and I made our way to Transfiguration, meeting up with Kevin and Ken on the way there.

            As soon as we walked in, Oliver was called up to Professor McGonagall's desk. The rest of us took our seats; I saved Oliver his.

            Moments later, he came to join me.

            "So I'm guessing that was about last week?" I asked, knowing that I was right.

            "Yeah. She wants me to stay after today so I can tell her what happened AND so I can make up last week's lessons. It's like detention, but it's not." Oliver replied, taking out his wand as we tried to transfigure a guinea pig into a roll of parchment. 

            I transfigured my guinea pig into ten rolls of parchment.

            "Ten points for Gryffindor for Cristina's excellent work," Professor McGonagall said after admiring my work.

            "Showoff," I heard Ken mumble from behind me.

            I just smiled.

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            At the end of class, I reminded Oliver that he had to stay behind.

            "But I'd rather be with you," he replied in a whisper into my ear.

            "I too would rather be with you. Unfortunately though, you don't always get what you want Oliver," I said, making him frown. "But I will see you in the Common Room later, right?"

            "Yeah.......I'll see you then," he replied as I left for dinner with the others.

            I ate dinner rather quickly, wanting to be in the Library before my friends came to join me there. That and the fact I didn't enjoy being away from Oliver, even though Andrew was making me feel a little better.

            But I left soon, finding and empty table for us to sit at. Not long after, Rebecca, Bethany, Becca, Robin, and Ashlyn walked into the Library together, heading for where I was sitting.

            As they sat down, I put a Silencing Charm around where we were sitting, so that no one could hear us.

            "So what's so important that you have to tell us Cristina?" Becca asked me.

            "Well.......it all started the day of our first Quidditch practise of this year........" I began.

************************************************************************

            "And that's what I wanted to tell the five of you. Bethany already knew about when Oliver woke up, as you found out. But there was more that she too needed to know," I said, looking around at them.

            "Andrew was in our dorm room last night?! Why didn't you tell me last night?!" Bethany asked me.

            "So what are you going to do?" Ashlyn asked me, ignoring Bethany's comment.

            I already knew that Ashlyn hated the fact that Andrew made out with me; she can't stand him; but then again, a lot of girls can't stand him.

            "That's the thing; I don't know what I'm going to do yet. That's the reason I'm telling this to all of you. I thought maybe you could help me," I replied.

            Everyone was silent for a few awkward moments until Becca spoke up: "The thing is, we really can't help you. We don't share your feelings, so really, for the most part, you're on your own. We can offer you some advice, but other than that, it's up to you."

            Everyone else just nodded in agreement.

            "Only you know which guy's meant for you," Rebecca said to me, smiling.

            "Yeah, but we're always here for you," Robin added.

            "Thanks, to all of you. I feel a lot better now," I said, almost crying because of how wonderful my friends are.

            "I suppose we better get back now; I told you that I still have that Charms essay to do," Rebecca said as we all rose to leave.

            "Sí, and I promised Oliver I'd meet him in the Common Room after we were done in here," I said, getting looks from my friends.

            "I do believe that Cristina has already chosen her boyfriend," I heard Becca whisper to Bethany.

            But have I really?

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            Reaching the Common Room, I didn't see Oliver anywhere, so I just sat down on the couch and waited.

            I waited for over an hour; he still wasn't there.

            After waiting another hour, I finally went up into my dorm room and got myself ready for bed.

            "_Guess I'll have to talk to Oliver tomorrow then," I said to myself as I got into bed and stared at the night sky before drifting off._

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A.N.) Sorry this took so long, but I'm suffering from my writer's block (mountain) still. I mean, I've got ideas for future chapters, but it's just everything in between that I don't have ideas for. So, I hope this wasn't too disappointing for you. I really did work hard on it.

Oh yeah, I also have a CSI fic out now. I'm working on Chapter 6 right now. If you are interested, just ask me sometime.

My cousin is still working on her fic, the X-Men Evolution one. It's really great for her first fic. Ask me about it sometime.

And the Animorphs fic Twilight Starz and I are writing, please read it and tell us what you think. Our other readers (3 people, that's sad) don't really like it, but I think it's a great fic (but that's just me). Yet again, ask me bout it sometime.


	11. Can We Ever Be Serious?

A.N.) Sorry if that last chapter wasn't that great, though I heard that those of you that read it enjoyed the 'tree scene' as I now call it (hehe). And I'm afraid that this chapter may be along the same lines of the last. Yet again, I have very few ideas for it. But I hope you still enjoy it.

So here it is.

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Chapter 11

            "What time is it?" I mumble to myself, turning over to look at my clock on my nightstand.

            "Well, I'm not late. And that's all that matters," I said to no one as I got out of bed and opened my trunk.

            After getting my clothes, I went to the bathroom to get myself ready for the day ahead.

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            Finally finishing, I walked out to a half-empty dorm room. I guess that there were some who still needed to finish their homework from the night before.

            "Buenas días Becca," I said as I woke up my friend.

            "Cristina? What are you doing up early? Usually I have to get you up," she mumbled as she got out of bed.

            "I know. I just happened to wake up early, that's all," I replied before walking out of our room and down to the Common Room.

            It was still a little too early for breakfast, so I decided to sit on the couch and wait. I was hoping to catch Oliver before breakfast, but I figured he was still sleeping.

            So, putting one hand on the back of the couch, I propelled myself over the back and landed on something hard that was lying on the couch.

            "What the hell?! Get off of me!!" I heard someone say.

            Turning my head to my left, I saw that I was sitting on top of Oliver.

            "Oh, Cristina.......I didn't know it was you........I'm so sorry" Oliver said to me, both of us blushing like crazy.

            As I tried to get up off of him; I had landed on his hip; he grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to him as he sat up.

            "I'm lucky that you're so light," he whispered from behind my neck after pulling my hair aside.

            "What, are you afraid that I'd hurt you?" I said mockingly.

            "Well, yeah," he replied, un-tucking my shirt.

            "Oliver......not here where everyone can see us," I said as he went for the back of my neck.

            "Let them see us. I don't care who knows that I love you," he said as he kissed me softly.

            "I can't argue against that," I said as he wrapped his legs around mine so that, even if I tried, I couldn't get up.

            Not that I wanted to.

            Before I knew it, Oliver had me pinned down on the couch. We were just going at it. But were we enjoying ourselves.

            "This is a great way to start the morning," I thought to myself.

            Hearing a door close, Oliver though nothing of it. But I was a little worried.

            "Oliver, what if Rebecca sees us? She might get the wrong idea," I whispered, afraid of being caught by her, one of my best friends, as well as Head Girl and a Prefect.

            "Get the wrong idea of what?" I heard someone say from behind us somewhere.

            Oliver jumped up so quickly that he bit my lip, again.

            "Uh, well......" Oliver started to say, but I cut in.

            "I had an eyelash in my right eye and I couldn't seem to get it out. So, since Oliver was down here, I asked him if he could get it out for me. But he insisted on getting it out the hard way," I said before Oliver cut in.

            "And since I couldn't see it very well, I had her lay down so that the lighting would be better. But I had to kneel over her to get a good angle at it, so that's........" Oliver said before I cut in again.

            "What we were doing!" I finished, hoping our story was believable.

            "Sure......an eyelash......that's why your hair looks like it did when you were two months old," Rebecca said as she walked out the door.

            Oliver looked towards the door. When he saw that Rebecca had left, he grabbed my hands and pulled me up off of the couch.

            Then we walked to the door; Oliver had both of my hands in his, smiling like crazy.

            "Cristina? I think you'll want to fix your hair now, before anyone else sees you," Oliver replied, desperately trying to hold back his laughter.

            "Why's that? I already did my hair this morning."

            Oliver then pulled me into the bathroom near the portrait door and pushed me toward the mirror.

            "Oh shit! Accio Cristina's hairbrush!" I called out.

            Seconds later, my brush came flying down to me. I then fixed my hair and pinned it up for the day.

            "That's the only problem with making out with you Oliver," I said, laughing as we walked out of our Common Room. "I can never keep my hair calm."

            "I have a hard enough time staying calm around you," Oliver replied, trying to fix his own hair, seeing as how I had screwed it up even more than it had already been.

            "Come on Oliver; let's get down to the Great Hall before anyone else."

            "Why? You in a hurry for some reason?" Oliver asked me.

            "Sort of. But just wait until we get there," I replied, walking faster.

            "Slow down Cristina; your poor, decrepit boyfriend can't keep up with you," Oliver called out.

            I stopped and turned around to face him.

            "Poor decrepit boyfriend? Where? I just see Oliver Wood in front of me, who hasn't completely come back to his normal standards," I replied as he moved closer to me.

            "Come closer, I need to tell you something."

            "What?" I asked moving closer to him so he'd be able to whisper in my ear.

            At that moment, Oliver stuck his tongue into my ear and then took off down the hall.

            I ran after him.

            "Poor decrepit my ass!" I yelled down the hallway as I ran after him. "You better keep running Wood! You don't want to know what I'll do when I catch you!"

            I was running so quickly that I didn't see anyone walk out in front of me until I ran into them.

            "Damn my luck," I said to myself as I looked up to see that I had run into none other than Marcus Flint.

            Getting up to my feet, I said, "Get the hell out of my way Flint."

            "Why? I never did get the chance to thank you for my injuries our first weekend back," he replied, showing me his horrible smile.

            "Yeah? Well consider that an early Christmas present," I growled as I moved around him to leave.

            But then, as I was about to take off after Oliver, Flint grabbed my waist.

            I suddenly felt very sick.

            "I DON'T THINK SO!" I yelled as I kicked my right leg up, allowing my foot to reach its target.

            "He won't be getting up for a while," I thought to myself, smiling as I ran off.

            You see, coming from a soccer playing background, I have a very lethal kick. But my right foot inflicts the most damage. Just ask all of the other guys that have pissed me off. And when I have cleats on.........let's not go there, shall we?

            Finally reaching the Great Hall, I saw Oliver waiting for me at our table.

            "What took you so long?" he asked me as I sat down next to him.

            "You don't want to know," I replied, still feeling really sick.

            "Yes I do. What kept you? I know that you can catch up with me at any given time; so what kept you?" Oliver asked.

            "Alright, but you won't like it. I was trying to catch you and I literally ran into Flint and......." I said, "he tried to make a move on me."

            "WHAT?!" Oliver yelled, jumping up at the same time.

            Everyone in the Great Hall looked at him, and then resumed what they were doing.

            "Oliver, don't worry. I took care of that problem. So let me put it this way: my right foot, his sensitive area."

            After hearing me say that, he sat back down and looked at me.

            "If he ever tries anything again......"

            "Don't worry. I don't think he'll mess with me again," I replied, cutting him off before he could finish. "In fact, I'll be amazed if he can move ten hours from now."

            That made Oliver smile. Seeing him smile made me smile.

            "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like a little breakfast before class," I said as I attempted to fill my plate, not being very hungry after what had happened in the hall.

            "You're going to eat more than that, aren't you?" I heard someone ask me as they sat next to me.

            "Buenas días Andrew," I said as he began to fill his own plate. "And how much I choose to eat is not a matter of yours," I added.

            "Whatever you say. So Oliver, where were you last night? We were wondering what you could possibly be doing wrong. I mean, you're not that bad in Transfiguration. So what kept you?" Andrew asked him.

            "Yeah, I was going to ask you that earlier, but you ran off," I added, giving Oliver my own look that he never seems able to turn away from.

            "If you really must know, then I'll tell you. I told you yesterday that I was to stay after and tell Professor McGonagall about what happened at our first Quidditch practise, and so I did. Then I had to make up Transfiguration lessons almost all night, which is why I fell asleep on the couch. I was too tired to go upstairs," Oliver said between mouthfuls of food.

            "Sounds like you had a very late night then. I'll just tell everyone that we don't have a Quidditch meeting after dinner so you can get some sleep," I said, grinning at my own sarcasm.

            "Since when has a loss of sleep kept me from Quidditch?" Oliver asked me with his own sarcasm.

            "Never. But I never know," I replied, rolling my eyes. "By the way, I called the meeting for seven tonight."

            "Good. I have news for the entire team to hear," Oliver said to me.

            "How about telling me first?" I said, showing him his own sad-eyes look.

            "Well........you can wait till tonight too," Oliver replied, grinning.

            "Damn you!" I said as I slapped his arm while he laughed.

            "Hey, save your aggression for Quidditch!" Oliver said while still laughing.

            "Sí Captain," I replied, rolling my eyes again as the bell rand for classes to begin.

            "Come on you two. Quit talking about Quidditch now so that we can get to Arithmancy on time," Andrew said, walking ahead of us.

            "You're lucky that we haven't covered much in class Oliver. You'll have a hard enough time making up what was covered," I said to Oliver as we reached the classroom.

            "Don't remind me," Oliver mumbled in reply as we took our seats.

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            "I couldn't be more relieved to have that class over with. It's so boring," Krista said as we all walked away.

            Krista, Bianca, and Lillie then left us for whatever classes they had next.

            "Where are you going Rebecca? The entrance is this way, remember?" I said as Rebecca began to walk away from us.

            "Actually, I promised Brian that I'd meet him somewhere and we'd walk down to the Greenhouse together," she replied as she hurried off.

            "Well then I guess it's just the four of us then," I said as Andrew, Oliver, Tommy, and I walked to the Entrance Hall together.

            Harry, Hermione, and Adrianna had already gone outside.

            "So, what is the creature of study now?" Oliver asked me as we went out onto the grounds.

            "Um, well, actually, yo no sé. I slightly missed last week's classes, so this will be a surprise to me too," I replied as I blushed and looked down.

            "Why did you miss class last......." Oliver began before he was interrupted by Andrew.

            "You really want to know what we're studying? Trust me, you won't like it," Andrew said, saving me from Oliver's question, though I know he'll find out soon enough.

            "But what is it?" Oliver asked.

            "Well, we happen to be learning about griffins. Lucky for us though, they aren't full grown yet. Though that's not saying they aren't fierce still," Tommy replied as we reached Hagrid's hut.

            "WHAT?!" Oliver and I exclaimed in unison.

************************************************************************

            "I'm so glad that our griffins were sleeping today," I said as we walked to lunch together.

            "Yeah, you have no idea what it's like watching them shred raw meat in front of you," Tommy said as we sat down to lunch.

            "So what do we have next?" Oliver asked me.

            "We have Charms next," I replied. "Too bad you missed when we learned Spongify. That was awesome!"

            "What exactly does Spongify do?" he asked me.

            "Watch this: Spongify!" I said as I pointed my wand at a floor tile.

            My timing was perfect: a Slytherin student came running into the Great Hall at that time, ran onto the now bouncy floor tile, and went flying until they hit a wall.

            Our table erupted into a roar of laughter.

            "...........did you see the way they hit the wall?!......"

            "........finally found where they belong.........."

            "........I want an instant replay!........"

            Our laughter finally died down when the bell rang for classes to start again.

            "Come on Oliver. You too Andrew, let's go to class before one of you busts from laughter," I said as I pulled them to their feet since they were still laughing.

            "Yeah sure Cristina," Andrew said as we walked away, still laughing quite hard.

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            "I'm so glad that we learned Skurge," I said as we walked out of Charms class.

            "Yeah, maybe now you'll clean José's cage more often," Lillie said to me.

            "What, are you saying that my guinea pig smells bad?" I asked sarcastically.

            Oh yes, I knew he smelled bad. It's not easy cleaning a guinea pig in a castle. And no one else was willing to help, so yeah, he stank.

            "Fine, I'll clean him this weekend, just as long as someone holds him for me," I added. "Maybe I can 'predict' who will hold him during our Divination class."

            At my saying that, I got many groans from those that had that class with me next. Someone, please feel sorry for us.

************************************************************************

            As usual, I took the table next to the window. Andrew, Oliver, Kevin, and Harry all came to join me.

            "It's that time of the week again," Kevin said.

            "Oh yeah, I know it," I replied as I took out a small, short roll of parchment and quill.

            I then divided the paper with my quill by writing out our names on it like this:

                                    Galleons           Sickles             Knuts

            Cristina

            Oliver

            Andrew

            Kevin

            Harry

            "Alright, the betting starts now!" I said.

            "5 Sickles says Harry's dead by the end of the week," Andrew said.

            "1 Galleon on Oliver saying something will happen to him again soon," I said.

            "10 Sickles says you leave us Cristina," Harry replied.

            "20 Knuts says Harry gets poisoned by Friday," Kevin said.

            "3 Galleons says Cristina leaves us," Oliver said.

            We all stopped long enough to stare at Oliver.

            "AND 15 Sickles says Harry falls to his doom from his broomstick playing Quidditch," Oliver added.

            "I put 26 Knuts on what Oliver just said about Harry," I said.

            "11 Sickles on Harry living this week after his 'poisoning'," Kevin said.

            "1 Galleon says nothing happens this week to me," Harry said, laughing about his own bet.

            "1 Galleon says Cristina falls from broomstick again, but meets her doom this time," Andrew said.

            "Thanks for the kind thought Andrew," I said, giving him a small kick from under the table. "Any last bets?" I asked.

            They all shook their heads.

            "Alright then. Bets are now final. Results will be dealt with at dinner since we have to sit through this class first," I said as class began.

************************************************************************

            "Well, there were some interesting fates today," Oliver said as we headed down to dinner.

            "'Don't worry dear, the poison won't kill you. But the fall you take from your broomstick during Quidditch practise will.' Yeah, thanks for the lovely fate-of-the-week professor," Harry said, imitating Professor Trelawney quite nicely.

            "'You will fall from your broom during Quidditch, poor dear. I'm afraid that you share a similar fate with Harry. Then you will leave us shortly after that. Your disappearance will be quite mysterious.' Like that makes a lot of sense," Andrew said, also imitating Professor Trelawney.

            "So, what does this bring the bets for today up to?" Kevin asked me, seeing as how Oliver, Andrew, and Harry were laughing too hard to speak.

            "Mmmm......I'm not sure yet. I'll need to finish adding everything up at dinner. I did write down the 'predictions', so I don't have to worry about mixing anything up.

            Finally reaching the Great Hall, I sat between Andrew and Oliver, as usual.

            I then took out the small roll of parchment out that contained our bets for the week.

            "Alright then, let's see what we have for the week: I just earned 4 Galleons and 10 Sickles. Harry gained 31 Sickles and 46 Knuts. Alright, here's who owes what: so pay up," I said as I put the parchment in front of them so they could see the results.

            I then took out the 26 Knuts I was to give to Harry. And that I did.

            "How many more times do you think you and Harry will die before she finally says something good will happen?" Oliver asked me.

            "Only she knows," I replied, laughing.

************************************************************************

            Soon enough, dinner was over and we headed back to the Common Room. While everyone else went about their own ways, we, the Gryffindor Quidditch team, stayed in the Common Room for our meeting.

            I was pretty tired, so I decided to stretch myself out on the couch. As soon as the meeting was over, and only Oliver knew when that would be since he controlled it, I was going to bed.

            "Nice to have you back Captain," Robin said, laughing at her comment.

            "Glad to be back. We have a lot to do before the first game of the year," Oliver began.

            "But the first game isn't for another six weeks!" Bethany said.

            "Oh come on Bethany: you know our mighty Captain better than that," I replied as I tried to hold back a yawn.

            "I know we have six weeks left. That's why we have to have practise three times a week: Saturdays, all day; Tuesdays after dinner; and Thursdays after dinner. This goes into effect this Saturday. Practise will end, as always, when I say it's over," Oliver said.

            *Groans coming from the team*

            "I've already talked this over with Madam Hooch and she said......." Oliver began before he was interrupted.

            "Why did you talk to Madam Hooch about our practises? We've never had to talk to her about it," Fred said to Oliver.

            "I know that. But Professor McGonagall said that after what happened at our first practise, it would be safer for the entire team if we have Madam Hooch oversee practise from now on," Oliver replied.

            "But why can't we just risk our safety? It's not like we haven't been in the hospital before," George said.

            "I too asked about that. We won't be allowed to practise if we don't do it this way. But there is a bright side to this," Oliver said.

            We all leaned in closer.

            "The other teams won't be allowed near the field unless we invite them to come," he finished.

            "At least something good came out of this," Harry mumbled as Oliver ended the meeting.

            The rest of the team went their own ways just as the rest of our House had done. I was still stretched out on the couch when Oliver sat down at the end my feet were at.

            "Watch it! I'll have no form of defense if you sit on my feet!" I said as Oliver stretched out on the couch the opposite way from me. "So now I get to smell your feet? Thanks a lot Oliver."

            "Sorry, I'm just really tired still," Oliver replied, grinning at me from the other end.

            "Well then maybe we should get off to bed," I said. "In our own dorm rooms," I added.

            "Try and make me then," Oliver replied as he grabbed my feet.

            "God no, not the feet!" I said as he began to tickle the bottom of my feet. "If I kick you, it's your fault because I can't control this!"

            "Cristina? Are you still down there?" I heard Rebecca call from above.

            "Oliver......stop for a minute, would you?" I whispered to him.

            You see, he had progressed from tickling me to kissing me, not that I would ever mind or anything. But Rebecca obviously heard us.

            "Yes Rebecca, I'm still down here," I replied, sitting up now.

            "Thought so. It's almost 10p.m. So get yourself up here now. Not the best way to set an example for the First years," Rebecca said.

            "Yo sé, yo sé," I replied. "I'll be up there in a few minutes."

            I then heard our dorm room door close.

            "Come on Oliver. We better get up there before she goes insane."

            Pulling Oliver to his feet, we walked up to our dorm rooms together, my hand in his.

            When we reached our doors, he gave me one more long, very passionate kiss goodnight.

            "I love you Cristina," he said as he opened his door.

            "I love you too Oliver," I replied as we closed our doors for the night.

            "Have fun Cristina?" Rebecca asked me as I got into bed.

            "Cállese Miss Prefect," I said, laughing as I closed the curtains around my bed.

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A.N.) Alright, I have to end it there. I'll be going back home for a visit for a few days. I swear I'll start writing another chapter as soon as I get back. So that's why I'm leaving you with such a long chapter. But I hope ya liked it! Till the next chapter......keep reviewing/reading/spreading the word of my fics.


	12. Weaker Keeper

A.N.) I'm back.........and no one cares, right? Just as I thought. As much as I would have loved to stay away longer, I knew that all of my readers (the few of you that I have) would come after me asking for more (Hint Hint......pass the word of my fic, would you?). So here's more for you. And remember, R&R please!

One last note: after I read about a certain Quidditch match (some of you know what I'm talking about), I now have double meanings stuck in my mind. So yes, you will find a fair amount of double meanings in here, including that one phrase, only it's in Spanish (Becca, Twilight, and Godseyewitness79, the three of you know which phrase that Wood [couldn't help that] be.)

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Chapter 12

            The rest of the week went by, nothing unusual worth talking about.

            Friday evening came along, slowly of course. But finally it came.

            "Finally! I never though we'd reach the end of the week!" I said at dinner Friday evening.

            "I know what you mean," Andrew replied. "I never thought homework would end."

            "It' not my fault that you wait until the last minute to do your homework," I said in reply.

            "Not everyone is like you Cristina," Oliver said, giving me his look that makes me smile every time.

            "I know. I'm just special," I replied, knowing exactly what he meant.

            "You're special alright," Robin said with a laugh, ducking as I threw a dinner roll at her.

            "So Oliver, what time does practise begin," Bethany asked him as the roll flew over her head.

            "Well, when did Cristina plan to start it?" Oliver replied.

            I stopped throwing food to look at him.

            "What do you mean when I planned to start it?" I asked him.

            "You are Captain when I'm out, right?"

            I nodded in reply.

            "Well then, when did you tell the team practise would start?"

            "I said ten in the morning, same as always, except when you say otherwise," I replied.

            "And that's your answer Bethany," Oliver also replied.

            "I would have asked you Cristina, but you were having a little too much fun throwing food at Robin," Bethany said.

            "Hey, not all of us are mature!" I replied, laughing.

            "Thanks for stating the obvious," Becca said as the roll Robin threw hit her in the face.

************************************************************************

            Saturday morning came. I was up early so that I could do some things before practise.

            I took a shower first, which was pointless. A heavy rain the night before caused everything outside to become saturated and muddy.

            The good news was; it wasn't raining anymore. If it was, I didn't hear it.

            After I was dressed and ready, I grabbed my wand and a bag full of stuff and went on down to the field.

            I didn't bother with breakfast; I wasn't hungry.

            Reaching the locker room, I went over to my office, opened the door, and walked in. Tossing my bag onto the couch in there, I then sat down in the chair behind the desk.

            This office is only available to female Captains. Oliver is our Captain, but since he made me Co-Captain, I got my own office. His is located across the locker room on the boys' side.

            I like to come here to get away from everyone. It's quiet, except when my teammates are changing outside, and it's full of things I enjoy. If I wanted to, I could even sleep in here, though I much prefer a bed over a couch.

            It was full of posters, drawings, pictures, and other random stuff. I had Quidditch posters, of course.

            I even had a poster of our team from two years ago when we had won the Cup (A.N. remember, in the 4th book there is no Quidditch.) The best part was that, like all pictures in the wizarding world, our team moved around. Oliver and I were standing next to each other, holding the Cup up high together, smiles beaming brighter than the sun.

            I also had posters of soccer teams too. Such as the Colombian National team (a.n. they only have a men's team, which sucks) and United States Women's National Team and, my favorite team of all time, the Atlanta Beat. They play fair and have talent. Muggle pictures don't move, but I've charmed my posters so that they would.

            I have tons of pictures around too. Some are of me playing soccer or being a referee, others are me at Quidditch and soccer games. I have pictures of my friends of course, all of us enjoying ourselves as we move back and forth between the others.

            Getting up from my chair, I went over to the couch, opened my bag, and took out a scrap of fabric. The fabric was a deep red and gold color, stained with blood.

            Holding the scrap in my hand, I walked over to the desk again, but stopped in front of a wall full of moving pictures. This was a favorite wall of mine for one reason: all of the pictures were of Oliver and Andrew, as well as all my other guy friends. But over half of the pictures were of Oliver and me together.

            Taking out my wand, I pointed it at the fabric and a blank space on the wall next to picture of Oliver in full Quidditch gear.

            "Tackius!" I said as the scrap became pinned in place next to the picture.

            I love that spell. I can pin up whatever I want without having to worry about putting holes in the walls or in my stuff. Such as my drawings. I've drawn lots of stuff; Quidditch scenes, soccer scenes, portraits, and other things along those lines.

            And about that scrap of fabric: it was the piece of Oliver's robe that he tore off and wrapped around my bleeding fist at our first practise of the season after I had beaten up Flint so nicely.

            I probably would have stayed in there forever, except for the fact that I heard the rest of the team walk in. So I walked out and joined them; after all, I still had to put on my armor and uniform.

            "Cristina? You're the first one here? That's unusual," Robin said to me as she, Bethany, and I got ourselves ready for a long day of practise.

            "As tired as I was last night, I found myself getting up early this morning," I replied. "Besides, you know that I'm excited when it comes to Quidditch."

            "That's not all you're excited about," I heard Bethany mumble next to me.

            "Silencio!" I whispered as I pointed my wand at Bethany.

            As Bethany tried to speak, Robin and I fell down laughing while I tucked my wand back into my robes.

            "Are you girls done yet? We need to start now!" I heard Oliver call out from behind the door.

            "Yes, please hurry before our mighty Captain goes insane," I heard Fred add to Oliver's comment.

            That increased our laughter as I took the Silencing Spell off of Bethany while we walked out of our locker room and met the boys.

            "Are we finally ready?" Oliver asked us as we walked out onto the pitch, Bethany, Robin, and I still laughing.

            "What's funnier than us?" the twins asked from behind us.

            "Nothing, we just have our heads stuck in the gutter right now, that's all," I managed to say through giggles.

            "Whatever. Who has the balls?" Oliver asked.

            "We do!" the twins shouted in reply as Bethany, Robin, and I dropped onto the wet grass and started laughing again.

            "Get your bloody heads out of the gutter and let's get on with practise," Oliver said, giving a small laugh and shaking his head.

            "I'm ok........really, I am," I replied as I stood up and mounted my broom. "I'm ready now," I added as my laughter died down a little more.

            The rest of our team mounted their brooms as well; Oliver was riding one of the school brooms until we go to Hogsmeade tomorrow.

            As soon as the rest of the team was into the air, Fred and George let the _Quidditch balls into the air, tossing Robin the Quaffle. Then they too were in the air with us._

            Circling around the pitch, I saw Madam Hooch sitting in one of the stands, here broomstick next to her in case anything were to happen to us.

            Flying back down toward the area of play, I saw Robin and Bethany attempting to score on Oliver, but to no avail. I flew over to them and intercepted a shot at the middle hoop.

            "Oliver, you look rather bored. Maybe I can make this more interesting," I said as I moved myself to a position in front of him.

            Bethany and Robin started laughing again as they moved in front of me so I could talk to them.

            "He's staring at my ass, isn't he?" I asked the two of them while I was grinning.

            "You're doing a great job of messing with his mind Cristina because he is most definitely staring at your ass," Robin said through laughs.

            "How can he play Quidditch on the same field as you if he's too busy staring at you?" Bethany added.

            "Yo no sé. But he better save it for off the field. Right now I've got a great idea for a play though," I replied.

            "Please do tell," they said in unison.

            "I was working this out last night on paper and I know it will be the perfect way to score. Alright, here's the deal: basically every guy in this school has a little something going for me, right?"

            They nodded in agreement.

            "What we'll do is this: the three of us will fly in a V-formation, me in the center, Bethany on my left and Robin on my right. I'll have the Quaffle with me. As soon as we are about ten feet from the goals, Bethany, you will fly behind the left goal and wait there for us. Robin and I will continue to fly at the opposing Keeper. The Keeper will never even see the two of you since he'll be too busy staring at me. So as soon as we are five feet away from the Keeper, Robin, you will fly behind the goal on the right and both of you will wait for me. I'll still have the Quaffle. Now, if the Keeper was paying attention, then he would notice the ball. But I have a little something in mind for him: I'll be holding the Quaffle in one arm right in front of my chest. But he'll be too busy paying attention at what's past the Quaffle, you know what I mean?"

            They nodded in agreement again. They knew what I meant.

             I then continued: "I'll fly right up to the Keeper so that I'm a little above eye-level. While he's still busy staring at what's in front of him, I'll throw the Quaffle through one of the goals. If it's on the left, Bethany, you'll receive it after I score and keep going until the Keeper notices you. The same goes for you if it's on the right side Robin. So, any questions?"

            "That was bloody brilliant!" Robin said to me.

            "If we do that, we'll definitely be up by five by the time Harry catches the Snitch," Bethany added. "The only problem we will encounter is when a team has a female Keeper."

            "In that case, we just play as we usually do," I replied as the three of us flew to the center of the pitch.

            "So, you want to try this on Oliver now?" Bethany asked.

            "Oh yes. If we can get past Oliver, then we can definitely get past any other male Keeper with this play," I replied.

            "This should be good. So what will you call this play, since you came up with it?" Robin asked me.

            "I'll name it only after it works the way it should," I replied as I put the Quaffle against my chest.

            "Ready to be beaten Oliver?" the three of us called out to him, getting the attention of everyone else on the pitch as well.

            "You think you'll actually be able to get past me?" Oliver said in his cocky Quidditch voice.

            "Yes, we do!" we shouted back as we took off.

            I was immediately aware that we were being watched by our other fellow teammates, as well as Madam Hooch.

            As soon as we had left the center of the pitch, we immediately went into our V-formation.

            We were closing in on the goals quickly........fifty feet.......forty........thirty........twenty........

            "NOW!" I shouted.

            Bethany flew left and stopped behind the left goal. Seconds later, Robin was behind the right goal.

            Now it was my turn.

            I began to slow as soon as Robin had left, which was when we were five feet away from Oliver. My play was going the way I had planned it: Oliver never even noticed Bethany or Robin because he was busy looking for the Quaffle.

            He found it alright. But that's not all he found.

            As I had planned, he kept staring at my chest until I was a foot away from him. I then moved myself so that I was above eye-level so he wouldn't lose sight of the, uh, Quaffle.

            And he most certainly didn't let his eyes stray. Moving my broom closer to him, his face was inches from my chest.

            I was driving him INSANE!

            I took advantage of that time to toss the Quaffle through the left goal. Bethany caught it and was able to score eighteen more times before Oliver finally blinked back to reality.

            "Beat you, didn't I?" I whispered to him.

            "I'll talk with you later," he replied, smirking.

            "Fine. Until then," I said, giving him a small peck on the cheek.

            "Until then," Oliver replied, returning my kiss before I flew off to join Bethany and Robin.

            "That was a most brilliant play Cristina!" Bethany said as I joined her and Robin.

            "Guess this means I should give it a name, huh?" I said to them.

            "It worked, so you should," Robin replied.

            "Hmmmm........what do you think about this for a name; Weaker Keeper because of the fact that they let their guard down since they become very distracted," I said, thinking over the name.

            "Has a nice sound to it. Definitely a perfect name when we play against Slytherin, though I don't think their Keeper could be any weaker," Bethany said as the three of us laughed.

            "I'm ready for you this time!" we heard Oliver call out to us.

            "Is that a challenge?" I replied as we got into position again and took off.

            Before you knew it, I had just scored again. I tossed the Quaffle to Robin this time since she was closer. She too scored another eighteen times before Oliver realized that we had tricked him again.

            "Give up yet Oliver?" I asked in my own cocky voice as I continued to fly in front of him, only at eye-level now.

            "No. You know that I never give up. But I do want you to go work on your Reverse Pass. You still have trouble with your accuracy," Oliver replied.

            How cute. Our winning-obsessed Captain is pretending to not be distracted by me. It's not working though.

            "I know you never give up. You're obsessed with winning."

            He smiled at my comment.

            "Alright, I'll go work on my Reverse Pass, if it will make you happy," I added.

            "That's not all that would him happy," Robin whispered to me, trying hard not to laugh.

            "What would make me happy is if I were to pull out my wand and put the Silencing Spell on YOU this time," I replied as I knocked the Quaffle out of her hands. "Now come on, let's practise!"

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            Finally, practise was over right before dinner started. I stayed behind to do some things while everyone else ran off to dinner.

            Though still quite dirty (muddy and wet) from practise, I went into my office still wearing my uniform and armor and got onto the couch. I then removed my leather gloves which protect our hands. The padding in the fingers makes it really hard to do a lot of things; makes me wonder how anyone can catch the Snitch with those on.

            Pulling out my bag, I removed its contents: a sketch book and the best art supplies in both the wizarding and Muggle worlds.

            Opening the sketch book, I flipped through a few pages until I found an empty page. Still lying on the couch, I began to sketch a figure out on the paper. I wasn't trying to draw anything in particular; I was just going with whatever came to my mind.

            But before I knew it, I saw what was on my mind: my drawing looked just like Oliver's head, sort of. Half of it looked like Oliver's face; the other half looked like Andrew's face.

            My thought about my new drawing was that it showed my feelings: I was split between them. I mean, yes, I love Oliver so much; but I also love Andrew. I truly don't know what to do.

            I was trying to think everything over when I heard a knock on my office door.

            "It's open," I called out.

            Seconds later, Oliver opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind him.

            "¿Que pasa Oliver?" I asked, forgetting about my choice of words.

            Pretending not to notice, he sat down at the opposite end of the couch.

            "Nice little play you made up on the pitch today," Oliver said, grinning at me.

            "Oh, did you like it? I call it Weaker Keeper," I replied, returning his grin.

            "Weaker Keeper?"

            God I love hearing him say Keeper. It's just the way he says it; I mean, with that sexy accent of his and all.......lo siento, anyway.......

            "Sí. I call it that because of the fact that they let their guard down since they become very distracted by the attractive female Chaser in the middle who happens to be holding the Quaffle," I replied, my grin becoming even wider now.

            "I'm guessing you'll be using that play against Slytherin eh? Oliver said to me.

            "Sure will. But we decided it would be best to try it against you because if it worked on you, then it would definitely work on any other male Keeper," I replied, laughing.

            "So are you saying I'm good or weak?" Oliver asked me, also laughing.

            "I'm not saying anything like that."

            "Sure you're not."

            "Believe what you like. But for right now, could you help me take my armor off?" I asked him.

            Oliver wasn't about to say no. If anything, it looked like someone had turned lights on in his eyes. Those amazing, deep brown eyes of his were glowing like the sun.

            "Don't mind if I do," he replied as he began to remove the armor from my legs, as well as my shoes.

            "So Oliver, what kind of broom will I see you with tomorrow?" I asked, not realizing that he would take that phrase a different way.

            Oliver stopped what he was doing and looked straight into my eyes; the look of pleasure on his face was unbelievable!

            "Ah! No! I didn't mean it that way!" I exclaimed, causing his smile to fade a little. "What I meant was what kind of broom are you going to buy to replace your last one?"

            "Oh. I've been saving up to buy a new one for a while," Oliver replied as he helped my remove the armor from my arms before tossing it onto the floor with the rest. "I'm planning on buying a Firebolt. Hopefully that will last longer than all of the other ones I've had."

            "That's great Oliver! I find mine to be near impossible to destroy. Maybe now you can escape those Bludgers?" I said as I removed the armor from my other arm and tossed it to the floor.

            "That would be nice, seeing as how I always seem to be a Bludger target," Oliver replied.

            "Yeah, and thanks for helping me with this stuff. Otherwise I'd probably be wearing it forever," I said as I got up and put my armor into my soccer bag.

            "So you're going to leave the rest of it on?" Oliver asked me.

            "Huh?"

            I had completely forgotten that I still had on the back and chest armor under my uniform shirt.

            "Oh. You wouldn't mind helping me with that too, would you?" I asked as I removed my robes and laid it on my desk.

            I then began to remove my Quidditch uniform shirt to reveal the armor underneath. All of my fellow teammates know that I always wear my white tank-top under my armor, since putting it on and taking it off is a two-person job.

            But I think that, briefly, Oliver had forgotten that; he was unbuckling the armor rather quickly.

            "Are you in a hurry Oliver?" I asked him.

            "No, not really," he replied, though his pace didn't slow any.

            He finished in no time at all. As soon as he was done, I raised my arms in the air and let him lift my armor up off of me before tossing it onto my bag.

            Seeing the look of disappointment of not seeing me in my bra, I began laughing at him.

            "What's so funny?" Oliver asked me, grinning.

            "Did you forget that I always wear this shirt under here?" I said in between laughs.

            "Maybe," he replied, grabbing my waist and pulling me closer to him. "But now you have to help me."

            "Alright," I said as he sat down long enough for me to remove his shoes and leg armor.

            As soon as he was standing again, he removed his gloves while I helped him to remove the armor from his arms.

            When I finished doing that, he too took off his Quidditch robes and tossed it onto mine. Then he quickly took off his Quidditch uniform shirt to reveal the armor underneath. He just stood there smiling while I began to unbuckle his armor.

            Ok, Oliver was enjoying this way too much. What was he up to? I mean, we'd helped each other like this before, so why was he so happy?

            I finished quickly enough. I then slid the armor off over his head, knowing that I'd see the same white, short-sleeve shirt that he always wears under his own armor.

            Um, well..........he didn't have that shirt on today. In fact, he didn't have ANY shirt on. All he had touching his beyond sexy chest was my whale's tail necklace.

            DAMN! All these years of playing Quidditch have really paid off for him!

            "You were, um, planning this, weren't you Oliver?" I asked as he put his arms around my waist and pulled me to him again.

            "Yes, actually, I was," he replied, gently kissing my lips.

            "Well, I am thoroughly distracted now. So does this make us even for the day?" I asked quietly.

            "I guess so. Though you are pretty distracting right now," Oliver replied, running his hands under my shirt and up my back, causing me to push into him.

            "Why now? You've seen me dress like this plenty of times before," I said in between his kisses.

            "You just seem so different now," he whispered back as he let my hair down.

            "And so do you," I whispered softly to him as I wrapped my arms around that strong neck of his.

            Not letting go of each other, we sat down on the couch. Actually, we weren't even looking to see where we were going; our lips were still very much joined.

            Sitting down, I swung my legs over his, enjoying his reaction as I sat in his lap.

            "Oliver?" I managed to say as he was sucking my bottom lip.

            "Mmmm?"

            "Say Keeper for me," I yet again managed to say.

            "Keeper," he said, letting go of my lip.

            "God I love how you say Keeper," I said.

            "Oh really? Alright then; Keeper."

            I started to giggle like an idiot.

            "You like that eh? Keeper. Keeper. Keeper," he repeated, causing me to giggle even more.

            "It's just the way you say it. No one else is like you," I said, looking deep into his shining brown eyes.

            "No one else is like you either Cristina. And that's why I'm so lucky to have you for myself," Oliver whispered to me, causing my famous smile to show.

            "I love you like you wouldn't believe Oliver," I whispered back as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

************************************************************************

A.N.) Sorry about how long that was. I don't know if I'll be able to get another chapter out before I go on vacation again, except this time I'll be gone for a week. So don't hate me, I'll write while I'm gone the best that I can so I can type it up when I get back.

Yes, this next chapter is the Hogsmeade visit, so it will be a fair length.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Until the next one.......R&R please!


	13. Hogsmeade

A.N.) I am so very sorry that this took so long. But I was in Texas for a week (a year ago). And when I got back, I had a really great idea for a few new CSI chapters. So I've been working on my CSI fic ever since I got back. Then this past summer I got a job and I can't very well write and save stupid people at the same time. I managed to write a little during this past semester, but now that we're on Winter break I should be able to get some stuff done. Sorry for keeping you all waiting.

But here it is _finally_...

* * *

Chapter 13

"Cristina, come on! Wake up!" I heard someone yell at me.

I thought to myself, "_Oliver? No, the voice is definitely female. But how? The last thing I remember is falling asleep in my office with Oliver who didn't have a shirt on..._"

"I swear nothing happened!!!" I yelled as I sat up in my bed, throwing whoever was on the edge onto the floor.

"Glad to see that you're up now, but why did you yell 'I swear nothing happened'?"

Rubbing my face, I mumbled, "It was just a really weird dream. It just creeped me out."

Fully awake now, I sat on my bed, looking down at the floor to see who had felt like they had to wake me.

"Bianca! It's so good to see you, just not this early in the morning," I said, yawning as she got up.

Not surprising, but between Bianca's wake-up call and my shouting, the rest of our room also woke up. And I wouldn't say they were happy...

"So why did you have to wake me and the rest of my dorm so early?" I asked.

"Hogsmeade today!" she shouted excitedly. "It's my first time and I wanted to tell you!"

"I know you're excited; so am I. But my roommates might hurt you for waking them so early..." I said to her, pointing to the door.

"So I'll see you at breakfast then?" she asked, jumping off my bed and heading to the door.

"Yeah, see you then." I yawned, waving as she disappeared through the door.

I would have loved to get some more sleep, but it was pointless. I was wide awake now. So I figured I might as well get ready for our trip into the small village.

Standing up, I didn't pay any attention to what I was wearing. I didn't have to wait long though to find out.

"Sleep well Cristina?" Rebecca asked me, grinning.

"Sí. ¿Por qué?" I asked, confused by her grin.

"Well, have you noticed what you're still wearing?" she asked, still grinning.

Wondering what she meant by 'still wearing,' I looked in the nearest mirror and saw that I was still in the clothes I wear under my Quidditch uniform.

Actually, I didn't even remember coming back to the castle after practise yesterday. I know I fell asleep in my office, so how did I get here?

Seeing the clueless expression on my face, Robin laughed before telling me what I was missing.

"You never came to dinner so we figured you were still on the pitch. But what was interesting was that Oliver also was missing. So it wasn't too much of a surprise when Oliver walked up here carrying you when we got back from dinner."

Every thought of what went through their heads when they saw us went through my head at that moment. And if he came up here without his shirt on like the way he was in my office, then that would put one thought in everyone's heads.

"So _what's up_ with you two? What went on down there that we missed?" Becca asked me, grinning.

All attention shifted to me.

_Oh this is just great. Now I'm in the spotlight. Why?!_

"Well, just so I can clear those thoughts of yours, nothing happened. We were discussing a new play I came up with that's very effective. That's it. I swear," I told all of them, directing my first statement at Becca, who happened to be laughing with Robin.

Now that I had burst everyone's bubble about me, all attention left me. Thank God. Picking up my clothes, I made my way to the bathroom looking forward to a hot shower.

Reaching the bathroom, Alli pushed past me, turned around, and said, "Bother!"

I just stood there wondering what that was about as she laughed behind the door.

Who said my friends are sane?

* * *

Finally ready, I walked out of our dorm room with Rebecca and Bethany. Everyone else had already left.

"The two of you looked really cute last night when Oliver carried you up here," Bethany said, smiling.

"I bet we did," I replied, laughing.

Then something occurred to me.

"Did Andrew happen to see the two of us last night?" I asked the two of them, praying that he hadn't.

They looked at each other, but it was Rebecca who answered me.

"He did. He was wondering where you were and was about to go look for you when Oliver walked in, carrying you like a little kid that's been out playing too long. Andrew didn't say anything. He just went up to their dorm and hasn't said anything since or been out until this morning."

This wasn't a good thing.

"I think you should go talk to him," Bethany said, pointing behind us.

Turning around, I saw Andrew walking by himself, head down and quiet.

"If Oliver asks where I am, tell him I'll be there soon," I told the two of them as I dropped back to where Andrew was.

As Bethany and Rebecca walked on, I walked up next to Andrew. He didn't even look up to see who was next to him. I felt really bad.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Andrew asked me quietly, yet still managing to startle me.

"Tell you what?" I asked, noticing that he still didn't look up.

"About you and Oliver," he replied quietly.

"I didn't know how to tell you. I really did want to say something but–"

Andrew stopped and put his hand over my mouth, not letting me finish any kind of explanation.

"You led me on Cristina. I really thought there was something going between you and me. But you just played me as a love-sick fool," he said, finally looking at me.

I pulled his hand away from my mouth, holding his hands in mine.

"Andrew, I'm sorry if I led you on in any way. But, the thing is, what I really mean...I wasn't leading you on. I've been crazy about you since the day I first saw you. It's just that Oliver made his move first. I would take either of you."

"Do you really mean that? Or are you just saying that to make me feel better?" he asked me.

"Both?" I replied, shrugging a little and managing a small smile.

"So you're not just going to completely forget me?"

"No! I could never do that! Andrew, I might be with Oliver, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. You're still one of my closest friends. You always will be, no matter what happens in life," I replied, looking up at him.

"It's just that I felt like you were messing with me, using me for your own entertainment."

"I'm more than sorry if I made you feel like that. Can you forgive me for that?" I asked, hoping and praying that he'd say yes.

Andrew just stood there, staring at me as though he couldn't decide what to say.

_Please don't say no. Please don't say no. Please don't say..._

"I don't know. I mean, I just wish you had told me instead of letting me go on like that," he replied, not giving any answer.

My heart sank to my stomach. Had I just lost a friend because I didn't know how to tell him something?

I was about to walk away defeated when Andrew started laughing and wrapped his arms around me.

"Of course I forgive you!" he said, holding me tightly with his embrace. "I really do wish that you had told me about you and Oliver, but it's fine. I'm not going to lose you because he made his move first."

"I'm so glad you don't hate me!" I said, hugging him tightly. "And I'm more than sorry that I wasn't the one to tell you. I really was trying to find a way."

"It's ok Cristina. Like I said, it's not worth losing you as a friend over," Andrew said, still holding me close. "Now why don't we head down to the Great Hall before Oliver comes looking for you?"

"Right. That's a good idea," I replied, laughing as we walked down to the Great Hall together.

* * *

"Did you get lost?" Oliver asked me as I sat down next to him. "I thought you were perfect with direction."

"Am I not allowed to walk and talk anymore?" I asked in reply, laughing.

"But I was lonely," Oliver replied, laughing.

"I'm sure you can get over that problem quickly enough," Andrew added, looking at me.

"How right you are," Oliver said, still laughing.

"Can the three of you finish up soon before the coaches leave without us? Unless you really feel like walking that is," Robin said, tossing a roll at me.

"Again? Haven't you thrown enough food at me this term so far?" I asked, laughing as I hit her with another roll.

"Never too many times!"

* * *

Finally we made our way to the carriages. I climbed into one shared by Oliver, Andrew, Bianca, Leo, Harry, and then myself. It was a bit of a tight fit, but we all managed.

Before too long, we reached the village of Hogsmeade. From the time we left the castle to the time we reached the village, Bianca was proudly telling us everywhere she was planning on going.

I couldn't help but smile. I was just like that when I went for the first time.

When the carriage came to a stop, we all got out and started going off to our own places of interest.

"So are we going to get you a new broom?" I asked Oliver as he wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close.

"Of course. If I have to use the school's broom any longer, I think I'll go crazy," he replied with a laugh.

"Oliver, you already _are_ crazy," I said, laughing.

"I know. Crazy about you," Oliver replied, putting his head next to mine.

As we started to walk off together, laughing, I felt someone tug on my shirt from behind. I turned around to see Bianca looking at me.

"Hey Cristina, can I go with you today?" she asked me excitedly.

Before I could say anything, Harry and Andrew stepped in.

"You could come with us if you like," Harry said, drawing Bianca's attention away from me.

"Really?! Are you serious?!" she asked in reply excitedly, completely forgetting that she had been talking to me.

"Of course. We'll show you all the best places to go around here," Harry said, winking at Oliver and me.

It was hard for me not to laugh at the look on Bianca's face. She looked like a little kid in a candy store. It's a secret between Bianca and me, but she has a rather large crush on Harry.

If she wasn't happy now, then she's putting on a really good act.

"This is so cool!" she said excitedly as the three of them walked away.

"Remind me to thank those two later,' I mumbled to Oliver as we finally made our way into the village.

"I thought Bianca was one of your best friends," Oliver said as we walked along.

"She is. I just was hoping that it would be just the two of us today," I replied.

"Well then, I suggest you do thank Harry and Andrew later," he said, laughing.

"You can too!" I added, laughing along with him.

As we made our way to Quality Quidditch Supplies, I received many evil glares from girls at school. I just smiled to myself. Oliver got his share of evil looks from guys at school.

When we reached the store, it took every bit of Oliver's will power to keep from running in there. It also took every bit of my strength to hold him back.

"Oliver, please restrain yourself! You'll end up scaring someone!" I said to him, holding him back as I laughed.

"Then can we go in _now_?" he asked me impatiently, giving that look of his that I can't say no to.

"Yes, just don't run in there like a wild animal," I said, but all he heard was "Yes."

Oliver was in the store before I had even finished my sentence. Not that I didn't expect that. I doubt binding him would have stopped him even.

As I made my way to the door, someone tightly grasped my wrist from behind, spinning me around to face them.

I didn't even have to look up to see who was restraining me. Only one person I know has hands as rough and icy as their voice.

"Flint."

"And what brings you to this fine store?" he asked, pulling me close to him.

"Nothing that's important to you," I replied, trying to pull away from him.

"Ah, but it is important because you are here," Flint said, showing his awful smile and clenching my wrists tighter.

"I'd be flattered if that didn't come from your mouth," I spat, still trying to pull away.

"Do you know how many girls would kill to get me?" he asked, his face inches from my own.

"Tu madre. No más," I replied, trying to turn away from his icy breath in my face.

"You think you're so funny," he sneered, gripping my wrists so tightly my fingers started to tingle. "That's the one thing I hate about you: your cocky attitude."

"Really? I'll be sure to keep it then," I shot back, still trying to wrestle my hands free.

"Someone should teach you how to get rid of that," Flint said, pulling me away from the store.

"I can really handle my own attitude," I replied, still trying to get away as he pulled me along.

"But I am most willing to help you today," he said, grinning as he pulled me down the nearest alley.

"Uh, that's quite alright. In fact, I think it's completely gone now," I replied nervously, trying frantically to get away now.

"I don't think so," Flint growled, pushing me against a back wall.

"Let go of me!" I shouted, my voice drowned out by the busy streets we were hidden from.

"You made a mistake choosing Wood," Flint whispered, his face centimeters from mine. "I've seen the way you look at me. You want me more than you think. Well now you're gonna get me bitch and you're gonna like everything about me."

I was afraid. Who wouldn't be? I was down an alley with one of the most vile people on this planet. And there was no way anyone could hear or see me. I was very afraid. He could see the fear in my eyes.

Flint laughed as he sensed my fear of being alone with him. Using his body to keep me firm against the wall, he forced his tongue into my mouth. I almost gagged, my stomach doing flips every second.

I couldn't push him away, my arms pinned behind me, his weight preventing movement. I tried biting him in hopes he'd pull away, but he just became rougher, more aggressive, fiercer.

He still wouldn't back off, my chest starting to hurt now as I was being crushed between the wall and his body. Flint began running his hands up and down my sides, slowly going higher, slowly going lower.

I thought I was going to choke, his mouth still not parting from mine and his vile, snake-like tongue almost touching the back of my throat. Tears began to roll down my cheeks as Flint began moving one hand up my skirt.

* * *

Oliver 

"_This is perfect for her_!" I though to myself, checking to make sure she wasn't around.

After making my purchase and safely putting it away, I looked around the store for Cristina but couldn't find her.

"Cristina?" I called out as I walked around the store again.

She was nowhere to be seen. Slightly panicking, I rushed outside to see if maybe she were still out there.

She wasn't.

"_Don't be so paranoid. She probably just went to some other store_," I told myself.

As I walked down the street in hopes of finding her, I heard some muffled noises coming from one of the alleys I passed. When I looked, I saw Flint with some girl, getting ready to put the move on her.

"That's just sick, Marcus having a girlfriend. Who's enough of a loser to go for him?" I asked myself, not knowing whether to laugh or be sick.

Curiosity got the best of me. Walking a little further, I turned my head to see what girl was with him.

I wasn't laughing anymore.

I ran down the alley, pulling Flint off of her when I reached them, busting his jaw with my fist when I pulled him away.

"You fucking bastard!" I shouted, hitting him in the face again.

He dropped to the ground, looking up at me with eyes of fear and anger.

"You can't protect that bitch forever," Flint managed to say, blood beginning to drip from his face.

"Bastard! I will _always_ protect her," I growled in reply, grabbing his shirt collar and pulling him up. "If you _ever_ call her that or touch her again, I will kill you."

I punched him one last time before I threw him down the alley, watching the bastard scramble to his feet and run off.

I'd never felt so much anger and hatred toward any one person. The bastard...

Turning to face Cristina, I saw she hadn't moved at all, here eyes unblinking and full of fear.

I was hesitant to touch her, afraid of what she might do or say. But I was even more afraid of what would happen if I did nothing.

"Cristina?" I said softly, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

She came back to reality, blinking before she dropped to her knees and got sick. I got down next to her and carefully placed a hand on her back, letting her know I was there and she was safe.

I don't know how long she was like that. We she was finished, I gently pulled her back and pulled out my wand.

"Skurge," I said quietly, cleaning her up before tucking my wand away.

"He...he tried...he tried to..." Cristina started before breaking into tears and burying her face against my chest.

"Shhh. I know. I saw him. That bastard will never touch you again. If he does, I'll kill him," I whispered in her ear, holding her tightly against me.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed, her arms wrapped tightly around me as though I would disappear.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I shouldn't have rushed in without you. I will _never_ leave your side again," I whispered back, softly kissing the top of her head.

We sat there for a little while, until Cristina had calmed down some. Helping her to her feet, I held her close.

"Why don't we go back to the castle?" I suggested quietly, putting my jacket around her shoulders.

She just put her head on my shoulder in reply.

Wrapping my arm tightly around her waist, we made our way back, thankfully avoiding all of our friends.

* * *

Cristina 

Oliver and I reached the Common Room without encountering anyone. I love my friends, but I really didn't feel like seeing anyone.

We walked up to his dorm, no one saying anything because no one was there.

I sat on Oliver's bed, pulling my knees to my chest despite the fact I was wearing a skirt. I didn't care anymore.

Oliver drew the curtains around his bed and sat next to me, wrapping a blanket around me and pulling me close.

"I don't understand. It's all a blank to me, yet in a way I can still see everything happening as though I was watching from another person's point of view," I said quietly, putting my head on Oliver's shoulder.

"Don't think about it. I won't let him get near you again," he replied, putting his head on mine as he stroked my hair.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, tears filling my eyes again as I held him tightly.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. I love you Cristina. Nothing anyone can do or say will change the way I feel about you," Oliver whispered in reply.

"Don't leave me," I sobbed against his chest, not letting go of him.

"I will never leave you," he replied, his warm embrace comforting me.

_I will never leave you...

* * *

_

A.N.) Took me long enough to finish. Lemme tie a bow on this and say Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate. I'm sorry I took so long, but finding time to write now is hard! But I won't stop. I can't take all the credit for this though...

**BeccaBlack** – Thanks for helping me along with this. You helped me get over my mental mountain so I could continue writing. You better start back too damn it.

**shadowcat241** – I owe you too. You kept begging me to update, so this one's for you! Thanks for the constant encouragement!


	14. Moonlight Cure

A.N.) Didn't update as quickly as I had hoped to, but with Christmas and then shopping and driving and all that other stuff, it's hard to find time to write. So this may be the last chapter before the new semester starts, so enjoy this until the next one, whenever that'll be...

* * *

Chapter 14 

/Cristina/

"Cristina? Do you plan on going to class today?"

_Who was that?_

"Anytime now would be nice."

_Maybe I should see who it is._

"I think that summer job really got to you."

"Alright, I'm up," I mumbled, slowly getting up.

Figures as much that Robin would get me up. Of course she knows how much I liked working over the summer.

Wait a second. How did I get back in my dorm?

"You must really enjoy what you wear during the day for you to not change at night," Rebecca commented from across the room.

"Yeah. That's what it is," I yawned in reply, pulling out my clothes for the day.

"Well hurry up or you'll miss breakfast again," Alli called out as they all ran out, leaving me behind.

I wasn't very hungry anyway.

* * *

/Oliver/ 

"Andrew, have you seen Cristina?" I asked him at breakfast, her vacant seat next to me making me wonder where she was.

"Haven't seen her this morning," he replied, shaking his head.

"She probably just slept in again," Kevin said.

Right. This coming from someone who was lucky to be up by mid-afternoon.

"I'll see you guys in class. I'm going to see where she is," I said, standing now.

"I'm telling you she's fine," Kevin replied.

"I'm sure she is, but you know how I am about my team," I commented, my remark making them laugh.

"Well you might want your books," Andrew said as I was walking out, handing me my bag.

I guess I would need that.

* * *

As I entered our Common Room, I saw Cristina making her way down the stairs from her dorm. I waited for her at the bottom.

Cristina smiled when she reached me, but I could see something was wrong. Her beautiful sapphire eyes, always bright and full of life, now cold and tired.

"Cristina? Are you alright?" I asked, embracing her tightly.

I felt her arms around me, but she acted as though every move she made was forced upon her.

"Yeah. I'm just really tired," she replied, a smile forcing its way across her lips.

"You missed breakfast. Are you sure everything's fine?" I asked again, not believing that she was ok.

"Sí, soy serió. I just wasn't hungry," Cristina replied, putting on her serious face.

"I'm just getting a little worried about you, after yesterday and – "

"I've already put yesterday out of my mind. I really don't want to dwell on it," Cristina interrupted, her tired eyes catching mine.

"All you ever have to do is tell me if you need anything," I whispered, gently stroking the side of her face.

"I know," she replied, putting her hand on mine and pressing them to her face.

"Come on, let's go to class before we're late," I said, taking her hand as we walked out of the Common Room.

* * *

Cristina was like this all week. 

She was always tired, falling asleep in study hall and in some classes. Her mind, always so sharp and alert, now distant from everyone and everything.

I never saw her eat anything, her loss of energy now draining the color from her golden skin. She avoided contact with everyone, almost never speaking, not even to me.

The girl I loved was disappearing right in front of me.

I had to do something before she was completely gone.

* * *

/Cristina/ 

Friday afternoon. Finally. First Quidditch game of the season tomorrow afternoon against Slytherin.

Great. Just what I wanted.

Figures that everyone would want to be in our dorms the day I most wanted to be alone. So I went down to the Common Room and stretched myself out on the couch in front of the fire.

I started to drift off, the heat from the fire and my own exhaustion overwhelming me. I was almost asleep when I heard someone walking down the stairs.

I was too tired to care who it was. I didn't have to wait long to find out.

Oliver came over and sat next to me, putting a hand on my shoulder to see if I was awake.

I opened my eyes and looked up at him, his eyes full of concern.

"What's wrong?" I mumbled, his eyes not leaving mine.

"Come with me," Oliver whispered to me, taking my hand as I sat up.

As we stood, he shouldered his bag and we made our way out of our Common Room.

* * *

We walked slowly across the grounds, neither of us speaking or looking at each other. Oliver startled me when he finally spoke. 

"I told you that you could tell me anything," he said, still not looking at me as we walked on.

"Oliver, I swear everything's –"

Oliver put a finger against my lips, cutting me off.

"No Cristina, everything's not ok. Have you taken a good look at yourself lately? You've stopped eating, you're so tired you fall asleep in class, you have no energy, you've become pale, and you avoid social interaction with everyone, including me. The girl that I love more than anything is disappearing and becoming just an empty shell of who she used to be," he said to me, his eyes full of sadness and worry.

I couldn't keep it inside anymore. Tears began running down my cheeks. My legs gave out from exhaustion and I fell forward, Oliver catching me against his body.

"I didn't know how to handle it. I've been so scared that something would happen," I sobbed, crying against his chest as he held me close, his body supporting mine.

We stood there for a few minutes, the moonlight shining through the forest, neither of us able to say anything to each other.

"I want to show you something," he finally whispered.

Taking my hand, he led me to the Quidditch pitch. As we ascended some stairs, Oliver pulled out his wand and lit up the darkness surrounding us.

"Close your eyes," Oliver whispered to me before we came back out into the open.

I was hesitant. I didn't want to face any more surprises, not after last weekend.

"Trust me," he whispered into my ear, sticking his wand into his pocket and taking my hands in his.

I closed my eyes as he carefully led me up a few more steps. Even with my eyes closed, I could still sense that we had stepped into a lighted area. But how?

"I was hoping to save this for your birthday, but I thought you could really use this now. Go ahead, open your eyes," Oliver whispered from behind me.

I opened my eyes and gasped at the sight in front of me. I had never seen anything so beautiful before.

The full moon, in all her glory, seemed to fill the night sky with her form. Her silver light covered all that crossed her path, glistening over the lake. The stars glittered like diamonds displayed on black velvet.

Oliver stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, gently resting his head on my shoulder.

"I said that you could always trust me," he whispered, his breath warming the side of my neck.

"Always," I whispered in reply.

I shivered as a cool breeze blew over my exposed arms, my thin t-shirt a poor choice to wear without a jacket.

Oliver took his jacket off and held it while I put it on. He took my hand and we sat on a bench, Oliver leaning back against the edge and me in front of him.

Reaching into his bag, Oliver pulled out a blanket and draped it over both of us. I leaned back against him and rested my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer.

"Feeling better?" Oliver asked me, tilting his head so he could see my face.

"Very much now," I replied, smiling at him. "How long have you been planning this?"

"A few months," he replied, a smile finally crossing his face.

"And I thought all you did was sleep in Astronomy," I said, laughing as Oliver rolled his eyes.

"You made me take it with you. And I learn more than you think. For once I enjoy a class," he replied, laughing.

"So I've noticed," I said, both of us laughing now.

We kept sitting there laughing, neither of us able to stop for a while. Finally we stopped laughing and just sat there, enjoying each other's company.

"I can't believe you planned this. I don't think anything could be more beautiful than this," I whispered, looking up into his soft brown eyes.

"The only thing more beautiful is being here with you," Oliver whispered in reply, softly smiling down at me.

Oliver gently lifted my chin, bringing our faces closer together. I closed my eyes as our lips met, taking in the feeling that comes over me when we're together.

I was filled with warmth as his skin touched mine, the cool night breeze not affecting me anymore. Oliver wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close as I wrapped mine around his neck.

All thoughts of last weekend left my mind, erased by Oliver's passionate kissed and love for me.

I felt terrible about how I had treated him all week, being cold and distant toward him above all others. He was concerned about me, but I just turned away and rejected him.

I gently pulled away, leaving Oliver confused.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked softly, his arms still around me.

"I've hurt you all week. I don't deserve to be here with you," I replied softly, turning my head away from him.

"Hey," Oliver began, gently turning my head to face him, "you're only human. Bad things happen to everyone. It can't always be prevented. You can't blame yourself for everything. Cristina, you were hurt and just wanted to be alone. I respect that. You just worried me. That doesn't mean I don't love you. I love you more than you will ever know. NOTHING will ever change that."

"You always have been good with words and making me feel better," I said softly, barely smiling.

"I can make you smile too," he replied, grinning at me.

"Yeah, you do," I sighed, putting my head on his shoulder.

"But you're not smiling," he said as he ran a finger up my spine.

Before I could say anything, Oliver started tickling me. I started laughing so hard my eyes watered, my efforts to stop him useless. Oliver was laughing just as hard.

In my last pathetic attempt to get away, I got tangled up in the blanket and fell off the bench with a small scream of surprise.

I just laid there, looking up at the stars and feeling really stupid. Oliver leaned over to see me, still laughing. I couldn't help but do the same.

"Are you ok down there?" Oliver asked, still laughing.

"Sí. I just felt like getting a good look at the stars," I replied sarcastically, also laughing.

"Here, let me help you up," he said, still laughing here and there.

When Oliver offered his hand to me, I grabbed it and pulled him down, Oliver landing on top of me. We started laughing again, our loss of words leading to laughter.

"Come here you," I said, grabbing his shirt collar and pulling him down, kissing him with as much passion as he had shown me.

"I love you," Oliver mumbled as he moved down to my neck.

"I love you too."

* * *

A.N.) Ok. I lied. I so didn't get this up before the semester started. But on the bright side, writing has kept me awake during Brit Lit and Algebra Trig. So anyway, look forward to the next chapter cuz it's Quidditch time! As always, RR! 


	15. Quidditch Disaster

A.N.) Ok, it's been a while. A LOT of drama has gone on in my life recently and I'm not about to go into any details. Trig is getting harder and it may be longer till I can post, but be patient. Anyway, here's a little something to keep you all busy till then.

* * *

"Shouldn't we wake them up?" 

"Nah, just leave them. They'll be up soon enough."

Why could no one be quiet while I'm sleeping? And what do they mean 'they'?

I couldn't sleep anymore, the noise of those walking past waking me. I woke to find an arm draped over me, a body behind me.

My eyes still adjusting to the light, I turned my head to look behind me and saw Oliver sleeping like a baby.

Seeing him made me smile, the warm morning sun playing across his face making him look like a little kid.

I turned over and gently ran my fingers through his hair, softly kissing him.

"Buenos días," I whispered, kissing him again.

Oliver slowly opened his eyes and smiled at me, returning my kiss.

"Buenos días to you too," Oliver whispered back, running his fingers through my hair.

"How is it that you can sound sexy in any language?" I asked him, laughing.

"You bless me with that gift," Oliver replied, grinning.

"I'm sure I do," I said, smiling back.

"We should go get ready for the game this afternoon," Oliver said, still grinning.

"You and your desire for winning," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

We sat up together, Oliver making me laugh again.

"What?" he asked, an arm around my waist.

"You hair," I replied, giggling.

Oliver's hair was sticking up in every direction, his typical messy hair after waking up and not fixing it.

Rolling his eyes, Oliver stood up and lifted me into his arms.

"What's the occasion?" I asked, grinning at him.

"I'm making sure you actually go get ready. If I left you, I'd probably come back and find you asleep," Oliver replied, carrying me up the staircase.

"Whatever," I said as Oliver gently set me down in front of my dorm.

As I went to open the door to my dorm, Oliver grabbed my hand and spun me around, my body pressed against his.

"My Captain ordered me to go get ready," I said, looking up into his soft brown eyes.

"Your Captain needs to relax," Oliver replied, grinning down at me.

"You tell him then. I've given up," I said, walking my fingers up his chest.

"I'll do that," he replied, kissing me.

Oliver ran his fingers through my hair, our lips not leaving each other's. All thoughts escaped me, as did time. Oliver slowly pulled away.

"I'll see you at the field house in two hours," Oliver said, letting go of me.

"Why the extra hour?" I asked, grinning at him again.

"We have plays to choose for this game. Besides, I want to fit in your new play so we can completely throw off Slytherin," he replied, grinning back at me.

Rolling my eyes, I kissed Oliver one more time before turning to walk into my dorm, only to walk into the door since I had not opened it earlier. Before I could open it, Oliver reached around me and opened the door, still grinning.

"You must first open a door before trying to enter," Oliver said, laughing as I walked in.

"Love you too," I replied, closing the door behind me.

Pulling out my clothes, I smiled as I gazed at the picture of Oliver and me on my nightstand, the two of us sitting under a tree before rolling on the grass, laughing.

"I didn't think anyone was there that afternoon," I whispered to myself. "What would I do without him?"

* * *

After getting a quick bite of food, I made my way across the grounds to the Quidditch pitch. 

Stopping briefly next to one of the stands, I looked across the pitch at the lake, wondering if I had simply dreamed about last night.

Had Oliver and I really been down here? Or had it all been a wonderful dream?

Without thinking about it, I took off my jacket, the warm day making it unnecessary. Then I realized it wasn't mine.

Last night really had happened. It wasn't a dream. I smiled as I walked to the field house, Oliver's jacket carrying his unique scent that I love so much.

I walked into the field house and opened my office, laying Oliver's jacket on the couch. As I turned around to go to my locker, I found Oliver standing in the doorway.

"I'm surprised you're not in uniform already," I said as I walked to him, smiling.

"We can plan first," he replied, taking my hand and kissing it.

I blushed as he kissed my hand again before we walked over to the play board. Oliver pulled out his play book and flipped to the next blank page before handing it to me.

"I feel so honored. My play gets a spot in your sacred book," I said, grinning as I took it from him.

"It's a brilliant play. I'm not going to let that go," he replied, smiling back at me.

I shook my head as I wrote down my play. Once I had finished it, I handed Oliver his book and went up to the board.

Taking my wand out of my back pocket, I used it to draw our team in starting position.

"Follow along if you can. I tricked you before, and I just might do it again," I said, turning around and smirking at him.

"Try me."

* * *

"There's no way we can lose," Oliver said once we had chosen our plays. 

"With a Keeper like you, it's near impossible," I commented, standing up so I could go change.

"You're a keeper to me," he said, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me to him.

"Good to know," I whispered in reply, kissing him.

At that moment, our team decided to walk in.

"Hey, get a room would you!" Fred and George shouted, startling us.

Blushing, I turned and walked over to the girls' side after greeting the twins.

"Maybe our serious Captain isn't so serious," Fred said, laughing.

"Or maybe we found his weakness," George added, laughing along with his twin.

"Oh, both of you just sit on it," Oliver replied as they walked to their side.

I couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

"Game time!" I shouted excitedly as Rebecca and Bethany grabbed their brooms. 

"It's good to see you back to normal," Rebecca said. "We were worried about you."

"I think Oliver had a lot to do with getting you back," Bethany commented as she pulled up the neck of my robes.

Both of them laughed as they walked out. Stopping at a mirror, I pulled down the neck to see what was so funny.

"¿Qué? Oh. Nice," I said, blushing as I pulled the neck back up.

I would most definitely say last night happened.

* * *

After we went over our plays for the game, we made our way toward the field, Oliver and Harry leading as usual. 

"Let's go kick some Slytherin arse!" Oliver shouted as we mounted our brooms, all of us shouting cheers in reply.

The door was raised and we flew out onto the field, flying around before taking our positions.

As much as I hated Slytherin, I couldn't help but smile at my surroundings. The cheering crowds, the sound of the Bludgers waiting to escape, and the all too familiar voice of Professor McGonagall warning Jordan.

"Jordan, no favoritism!" she shouted after he made a particularly snide remark about our opponent.

I couldn't help but snicker. Actually, we all did, with Slytherin glaring at us.

"I want a nice, clean game from _all_ of you," Madam Hooch said, shooting icy glares out Slytherin.

As if they cared!

Madam Hooch opened the chest, releasing the Bludgers and Snitch. Picking up the Quaffle and tossing it into the air, she blew her whistle and the game started.

Rebecca was first to grab the Quaffle, dropping it down to Bethany as she moved to my right. Bethany tossed the Quaffle up to me and moved to my left. Glancing at both of them, they grinned in reply.

"Let's get it started!" I shouted.

Slytherin never saw it coming.

"Gryffindor is up 200 to nothing! An excellent play led by Cristina, Rebecca, and Bethany! It looks like the play consists of Cristina holding the Quaffle against her –"

"Jordan, don't say it –"

"I can't blame Slytherin for being distracted by her –"

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry Professor," Jordan said before quickly getting back into the game. "Slytherin finally has possession of the Quaffle...or they did. Nice Bludger by Fred, er, George...oh, it's one of those two."

I laughed as I caught the Quaffle from Oliver, taken from an easy save. I tossed it to Bethany. She and Rebecca flew down the pitch, passing the Quaffle back and forth.

Before long, we were up 300 to nothing. Something didn't seem right. Slytherin was never this simple to play against. Then again, we hadn't even been playing ten minutes yet.

I had possession of the Quaffle again, easily maneuvering around the Slytherin players. An easy goal was in my sight as I brought my arm back to shoot. Then –

"That one had to hurt! Gryffindor's Chaser Cristina took a hard Bludger to the arm. But she still scores!" Jordan shouted.

Now I found myself hanging upside down from my broom, my right arm hanging limply by my side.

"I always wanted to impersonate a three-toed tree sloth," I mumbled sarcastically to myself as I rolled back over.

I ignored the pain that shot through me as I moved my arm, the crowd cheering as I took off again. There was no doubt my arm was broken, but we had a game to win.

Once my arm was back in one piece, someone was getting a black eye.

"Catch the Snitch soon please," I called out as I flew past Harry, who was still searching for the elusive golden ball.

"Watch yourself!" Oliver shouted to me as he tossed me the Quaffle.

"I'll be fine! Don't worry about me!" I shouted back, watching for Bludgers as I raced to score another goal.

I made another easy goal, barely tossing the red ball through one of the lower hoops.

Flint grabbed the Quaffle and sped off toward Oliver.

"Don't even think about it," I mumbled to no one as I took off after him, my fellow Chasers close behind.

"Look out!" someone shouted.

I quickly turned around and –

* * *

-Oliver- 

"NO!" I shouted as she went down.

"And Gryffindor has just lost a Chaser! I don't think she'll be getting up after a two-Bludger hit. What a dirty, rotten play by Slytherin!" Jordan shouted.

McGonagall didn't say anything.

I could see the grin on Flint's face growing as he neared me. He was no going to get away from this.

After catching his pathetic shot, I threw the Quaffle at the back of his head hard enough for the momentum to make his face hit his broomstick just as Harry caught the Snitch.

I sped down to Cristina as Jordan announced our victory. I jumped off my broom and ran to her before I had even landed on the ground. The rest of our teams was close behind.

I kneeled at her side, gently lifting her up. Her body hung limply from my arms, the sadness inside of my overwhelming.

"Come on, wake up. Please Cristina, wake up," I said softly, praying to myself that she would wake up.

The rest of our team came and stood around me, no one saying anything. I stood up and lifted Cristina into my arms, holding her close.

"We'll meet tonight in the Common Room at eight," I told the team before I walked toward the school, my voice shaking as I spoke.

Once I was out of sight, I broke into a run and ran until I reached the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomphrey was already waiting.

"Lay her down over here, quickly please," she instructed me, my state of panic still getting the best of me. "Now help me get all this padding off."

I did as I was told, not saying a word. Once that was done, Madam Pomphrey shooed me out. I went and sat outside the door without any argument.

"She's tough and you know it. She'll be fine," I heard someone say.

I looked up to see Fred and George standing over me.

"And don't even think about blaming yourself. It's Quidditch and that was Slytherin. It could have happened to _any_ of us," Fred said, his twin nodding in agreement.

"Where're the others?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

"They're coming. They just stayed to clean up the field house since we always tend to trash it," George said, his attempt to lighten my mood failing.

I jumped to my feet when Madam Pomphrey opened the door, Fred and George standing behind me.

"I still can't see why such a violent game is so popular," she said to the three of us.

"How is she?" I asked, ignoring what she said.

"Lucky. Had it not been for all the padding you all wear, she would be far worse," Madam Pomphrey said, making us feel like we were being scolded.

"Please, Madam Pomphrey, is Cristina alright?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

"She could be better. Broken arm, large bruises, a few broken ribs, a concussion, but she'll live," Madam Pomphrey replied.

"Can I see her?" I asked, about ready to run into the room.

"Ten minutes," she replied before walking out.

I ran to Cristina's bed, her sleeping form looking peaceful despite her injuries. I stood there silently, looking down at her sadly as I gently stroked her head.

Madam Pomphrey walked in ten minutes later and made us leave, despite my protesting. I didn't want to leave Cristina, but I had no choice.

Fred, George, and I made our way back to our Common Room, none of us saying anything. What was there for me to say? The girl I loved more than anything was seriously injured and I couldn't stay with her.

"Tell the rest of the team they played well and that I went to bed sick," I said to the twins as we walked through the Fat Lady's portrait.

Both of them nodded in reply as I made my way up to our dorm.

Closing the door behind me, I walked over to my bed and looked at the picture of me and Cristina on my nightstand.

We were celebrating our win of the Quidditch cup last year. We had an arm wrapped around each other while holding the trophy high in the air over our heads. The smiles on our faces were priceless.

I took off my robes and armor, tossing them at the foot of my bed. Taking off my shirt, I fell onto my bed and drew the curtains closed around me.

"_What does the world have against her? What does the world have against us?_" I thought to myself as tears came to my eyes.

I promised to protect her, but she still got hurt.

I couldn't hold the tears back anymore. Silencing the area around my bed, I cried until I fell asleep.

Why wasn't I there to save her?

* * *

A.N.) Ok, so that's it until I get back from Orlando. I promised I try and get a chapter up before I left for my chorus competition and here it is. Then Spring Break! Yay! Course, I'll be workin on my Hamlet research paper...ugh. God help me. So, enjoy what I've left ya cuz that's it for a little while. Hey, I'll try and write _at least_ a little while in Florida. Rock on KMHS Chorus!  



	16. Awakening

A.N.) Ok, I did honestly write a little bit while in Florida with Chorus. But, for the most part, I was very distracted by singing, riding rides in Disney, and swimming with seriously hot guys from school. Yeah. Can ya blame me for putting writing second? Lol. But, we won 1st in the nation (ROCK ON KMHS CHORUS!) and now he's the next chapter without anymore delay.

* * *

>Oliver> 

_>dreaming>_

"Cristina? Where are you?" I called out, the darkness blinding me.

I stumbled over everything, branches and thorns tearing at my skin and clothes. Where was my wand?

We had wandered too far into the forest. Now we were lost, no light and separated from each other.

"Oliver! I'm over here! I can't see you!" she yelled in reply, her voice distant.

"Stay where you are! I'm coming to you!" I shouted, stumbling constantly as I made my way toward her voice.

I stopped where I was when I heard something moving behind me. Although I couldn't see anything in the dark, I turned around to face what was following me.

As soon as I had turned, my follower shot past me, a force of some kind throwing me to the ground.

Recovering quickly, I ran after it, afraid that whatever it was went after Cristina. My skin stung from every twig and branch that slapped me as I ran past.

"Cristina! Run!" I yelled, praying I could reach her first.

I kept pushing myself to go faster and faster, but I was already going as fast as I could. My lungs were burning and my legs were numb, but I couldn't afford to stop.

Ahead of me, I saw a red flash, yet it was too distant for me to see more than outlines of trees and other foliage. I was plunged into darkness again when the light faded away.

I tripped over something and fell hard face first, sliding until friction stopped me. I couldn't move, exhaustion finally taking over me. I could hardly keep my eyes open, my body trying to shut down so I could recover.

A loud scream brought me to my feet and a sharp pain shot through my leg. Ignoring the pain, I made my way to the screaming as quickly as I could, the last of my energy keeping me going.

Suddenly a blinding white light filled the air, forcing me to stop where I was. It slowly began to dim enough to where I could open my eyes.

I was standing on the edge of a giant pit, no end in sight, or at least none that I could see.

"Oliver! Help me!" I heard Cristina cry out.

I looked down and saw her barely hanging onto a tree root that was poking through the dirt walls.

I dropped down and reached for her, lying as far over the edge as I could without risking myself falling too. Cristina reached for me and grabbed my hands.

"Hold on! I can't lose you again!" I shouted as I started to pull her up.

Cristina was just climbing out when something hit me hard, throwing me against a tree and knocking the wind out of me. I couldn't focus on anything and the world kept spinning around me.

I couldn't move, my body finally having shut down. I felt a hand on my back and managed to open my eyes enough to see Cristina at my side, her wand out and ready in case the attacker came back.

"Oliver, stay with me. We'll make it through this. Please, I can't lose you," Cristina whispered into my ear.

"I can't lose you..."

* * *

"I can't lose you!" I cried, sitting straight up. 

I woke up in a cold sweat, forgetting where I was. Taking a few deep breaths, I drew back the curtains to see if I'd woken anyone up.

Either no one had heard me or they were all hard sleepers.

I got out of bed and got dressed. I'd shower later. What time was it anyway? I looked at my watch. Seven o'clock Sunday morning. When did I go to bed?

Trying to go back to bed would be useless. I needed to walk.

I made my way out of the Common Room silently. Being alone was what I wanted right now.

The Hospital Wing was empty at this early hour, save for the one occupied bed near the far end of the room. I walked silently to that bed, still not wanting to draw any attention to myself. Thankfully, all the portraits were vacant at this time.

I sat on Cristina's bed and took her uninjured hand in mine. She hadn't moved from when I last saw her yesterday afternoon.

I gently stroked her hand mindlessly, gazing at her from where I sat.

The pale, early morning light washed a grey-blue color over her body, making her look cold and surreal. Her hair was still pulled back in a tight braid, a few loose strands crossing her face.

I let down her hair and brushed the loose strands off her face. Her hair looked like a dark halo around her head, the sight of it eerie to me.

I took her good hand and pressed it to my face, the warmth of her skin still present, despite the cold morning light.

All I could do was sit there on her bed, holding her hand against my face, wondering what I could've done to keep this from happening to her.

"What could I have done to protect you?" I asked, closing my eyes as my voice disappeared into empty space.

"Don't blame yourself. You're as bad as me," someone whispered near me.

I spun around quickly to find Cristina awake, a small grin on her face. She squeezed my hand as though to prove I wasn't dreaming.

"I guess I am as bad as you," I said, managing a laugh.

I felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my chest. Just to have Cristina smiling again made me feel like the world was better.

"How long have I been out?" she asked, fully awake now but her voice was still soft.

"Since yesterday afternoon," I replied, gently stroking her cheek.

"Did we win?" Cristina asked me, grinning.

"Now I've turned you into me," I said, laughing. "And yes, we won. 350-0."

Cristina winced as she tried to laugh, wrapping her good arm around her chest.

"What happened to me?" she asked softly, looking up at me.

I told her what happened, why we guessed Slytherin didn't play up to their dirty standards, what they had done to her, and the injuries she had suffered.

I could see the fierce fire in her sapphire eyes spark again, quickly becoming a roaring flame.

"That bastard!" Cristina growled, yanking the covers off of her and jumping out of bed, only to wince and yelp in pain, falling back against me.

"Take it easy! Don't hurt yourself anymore. Please lay back down," I said, supporting her body against mine.

Reluctantly, Cristina got back into bed with my help, though she remained upright.

I put my hand on her bare shoulder, Cristina quickly pulling away, pulling the covers up to her neck.

"Why didn't you tell me I was exposed like that!" Cristina exclaimed, blushing as she continued to hold up the sheets.

"You're not exposed. Trust me, I can't see anything," I replied, rolling my eyes at her.

Cristina took a minute to make sure I was being truthful before dropping the sheets. I'd never lie to her.

"How long am I out?" she asked, finally settling down.

"At least a few weeks," Madam Pomphrey answered, surprising us as she walked in.

"I can't be out that long! The team needs me!" Cristina shouted, trying to get up again.

I held her down as gently as I could, not wanting to injure her anymore.

"You will not leave here or play again until I say you can," Madam Pomphrey replied sharply, shooting me a look. "Now, Mr. Wood, you must leave."

Cristina protested, but Madam Pomphrey would not hear a word of it. There was nothing I could do to extend my stay.

"I'll be back later" I whispered, brushing her hair back and kissing her forehead.

"Oliver, have Kylie replace me. She's the only one who can. Trust me, she's very good as a Chaser," Cristina said, squeezing my hand before I was thrown out.

Making my way back to the Common Room, I couldn't help but smile. I had every reason to. Cristina was awake and would be ok, even though she wouldn't play Quidditch for a while.

Walking into the Common Room, I went up to my dorm, my friends and roommates still asleep.

After all, it was still pretty early.

I went over to my trunk and pulled out some clean clothes and went to shower. Closing the door behind me, I set my clothes on my shelf and started the shower.

Stepping into the shower, I let the hot water cascade over me and my mind wander.

My mind continued to go over one thought after another, Cristina the only focus.

I'd never felt that helpless before, seeing the girl I loved more than anything lying on the ground, defenseless, battered and bruised, her body motionless as we played on.

The fear of the thought of losing her still haunted me, my nightmare having seemed so real.

Cristina meant the world to me. Despite popular belief, Quidditch was not my world; Cristina was. I don't know what I would do without her.

She's not like any other girl around. She doesn't throw herself at me, trying to get my attention. She doesn't treat me any differently from her other guy friends. We were each others' equal, teammates, friends, and now lovers. We deeply respected each other, sharing ideas, plays, and sometimes homework too. Cristina was smart, witty, outgoing, sensitive, beautiful, friendly, athletic, competitive, loving, and had an attitude that proved she didn't tolerate crap from people.

I love Cristina more than anyone would ever know. No matter what, no one will ever change that.

My thought finally done processing, I turned off the shower and dried myself off.

After I wrapped my towel around my waist, I wiped the fog off part of the mirror and just stood there looking at my reflection.

My clone stared back at me, tall, strong, attractive, and proud. He looked like someone who could easily protect the girl he loved.

I got dressed and looked at my clone again, my hair dripping onto my shirt.

I was that guy in the mirror. I was the tall, strong, attractive, and proud guy looking at myself.

I can easily protect the girl I love. I won't allow anyone to hurt Cristina again.

* * *

"Kylie! I need to talk to you!" I called out as I walked into the noisy Great Hall. 

Kylie and Harry looked up, smiles still on their faces.

"Sure. How's Cristina doing?" Kylie asked as I sat down in front of them.

"She's awake now. Aside from the fact she's pissed because she's out of Quidditch for a while, she'll be fine," I replied, putting food on my plate.

"Who's going to replace her until she comes back?" Harry asked.

"Well, she named someone, and I agreed," I replied, smiling.

"And?" Harry pushed on.

"You're sitting next to her," I answered, still smiling at them.

"Me? This is incredible! I'm so excited!" Kylie exclaimed, her face lighting up as she hugged Harry.

I finished breakfast and left them to celebrate. It wasn't a long term replacement, but I knew they were still happy.

The Common Room was full of students when I walked in, but no one said anything to me. I guess they all figured I still wanted to be alone.

I went up to my dorm and grabbed my books and other supplies. Knowing how Cristina was about her school work, I went over to her room to get her supplies.

Cristina's dorm was empty as I went over to her trunk, though her roommates don't mind my coming in there, as long as they're all decent.

After I grabbed her stuff, I walked back to the Hospital Wing, hoping I wouldn't get kicked out again. Cristina was sitting up when I walked in and waved me over.

I went over to her and sat on her bed. She grinned at me when she saw my books.

"You know me too well," Cristina said, still grinning.

"Guess I do," I replied, setting my stuff down. "So what would you like to start with?"

"How about Divination? I'm interested to know what my fate is now," she answered, rolling her eyes.

"Alright then. Let's get started."

* * *

A.N.) I know. It's taken me a while to finish this chapter. Gimme a break, I've had a lot on my mind and a lot to do. School ends this week and then I'll be at work almost every day. Whitewater just opened this weekend and I am very proud to say that I did the impossible and made it to Deep Water guard. Yup. I'm a Wave Pool lifeguard now. Extra dollar of pay (which is actually quite good with all the hours I work) and the really cute guys tend to be on Wave Pool. Hehe...go me. Anyway, R and R as usual and I swear I have already started the next chapter (something has to keep me awake in this last week of Trig). 


End file.
